Was it Really Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson?

I've hesitated writing a critical piece about Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea because, on the one hand, the man seems to be doing good things for the world by building schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  On the other hand, Three Cups of Tea has increasingly come under fire for mischaracterizing events and wholly manufacturing parts of the story.  Plus, Mortenson's charity, the Central Asia Institute ("CAI"), has faced a battery of accusations regarding its atrocious accounting practices and mismanagement of funds.  As the truth has gradually surfaced over the last year or so, it seems a discussion of Mortenson's hoax is now appropriate. 

For the sake of full disclosure, I read Three Cups of Tea a couple years ago.  I found the first 50 pages or so riveting, the next 50 pages began to flounder, and the 50 pages after that made me lose all interest in reading the rest of the book.  I never finished it.

Now, as it turns out, the story that Mortenson told in the first 50 pages or so--of failing to reach the summit of K2 in Pakistan, getting lost in a small village called Korphe, being nursed back to health by the villagers there, and feeling so touched that he promised to build a school for that village--possibly never happened.
The integrity of Three Cups of Tea began to unravel when 60 Minutes broadcast a show in April 2011 that accused Mortenson of inaccuracies in both Three Cups of Tea and its sequel, Stones into Schools, and for mismanaging CAI.  Besides asserting that Mortenson invented the story of being lost in Korphe, 60 Minutes also challenged Mortenson's claim that he was captured by the Taliban in 1996, noted that Mortenson may have exaggerated the number of schools CAI actually built, and claimed that millions of dollars donated to CAI were actually spent not on schools, but on buying copies of Mortenson's books, and paying for Mortenson's travel costs to promote his books.

In response to the 60 Minutes allegations, Mortenson agreed to be interviewed by his hometown newspaper, The Bozeman Daily Chronicle, and by Outside magazine.  Through these interviews, Mortenson admitted that the story of how he ended up in Korphe was based upon a series of experiences he had conflated into a single remarkable tale.  Apparently, many of the incidents described in Mortenson's books were told in like manner--by synthesizing several encounters into a single poignant one.  When asked if he reviewed the manuscript of his book before it was published and whether he realized that the book was not exactly telling a truthful account of his story, Mortenson blamed his co-author, David Oliver Relin.  Mortenson claimed that he "would squawk about it and be told it would all work out."  In fact, Mortenson claimed that, because he was overseas so frequently, Relin would actually read the manuscript to Mortenson over the phone (as if that somehow lessens his obligation to ensure it is accurate).  When asked if he has read the published book and observed that it did not portray his story accurately, Mortenson replied: "Yeah.   Especially in regards to the timing.  Like, you know, you went there three times, twice you went there in the fall, so let's just make it one fall trip."

As with other literary hoaxes--such as James Frey's and Arthur Train's--Mortenson has since faced his share of lawsuits.  Like Frey and Train, Mortenson has been sued for the "fraud" inherent in his book, as it purports to tell the true story of how Mortenson came to build schools and found CAI.  Since the book embellished aspects of Mortenson's experiences, conflated others, and may exaggerate just how many schools were built, billing it as a "true" story seemed deceitful--at least that's what the litigants in the class action lawsuit against Mortenson alleged.  Although this lawsuit has been dismissed in federal district court, an appeal has been filed.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  In Frey's case, the class action fraud lawsuit against him and his publisher resulted in a settlement amounting to about $3.5 million, which included a massive refund to hoaxed readers.

The allegations about the misuse of CAI funds led to an investigation by the Montana attorney general (CAI is based out of Montana), which resulted in an agreement by which Mortenson would pay $1 million to compensate CAI for his use of CAI funds to promote his books and buy copies of them.  This figure seems low, considering that 60 Minutes reported that CAI spent nearly $4 million to buy copies of Mortenson's books (which generated royalties paid to Mortenson) and the attorney general's report found that CAI had paid around $4.9 million to promote the books.  Under the circumstances, one must wonder whether CAI's purpose is to build schools or its founder's bank accounts.

In the end, I find this whole episode really disappointing.  I find it unsettling that Mortenson doesn't seem to take any personal responsibility for publishing books that are presented as true stories, yet are not exactly "true."  Blaming it all on his co-author seems disingenuous.  I feel bad for those who donated money to CAI, thinking the bulk of it would be spent building schools, when the media has reported that only about 41% of the donations to CAI actually goes towards building schools.
Makes me doubt that it really takes three cups of tea.  Maybe he just took three trips and had one cup of tea during each?

Works consulted:
New York Times
Huffington Post
Greg Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea.