My freshman year, every incoming Northeastern student (freshmen and transfers) was required to read “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson, who also gave a speech in Matthews Arena on the book. (In his sequel, “Stones into Schools,” he remarks how he was moved that the students of Northeastern filled a stadium for him. Perhaps nobody told him it was required attendance for freshmen.)
The tale covers Mortenson’s harrowing attempt to climb K2, the world’s second-tallest mountain, and how he became separated from his party. Weakened and near-death, he stumbled into a village called Korphe in Pakistan. In return for the help and care the villagers provided him, Mortenson promised to return there to build a school for the village’s children.
The story is touching, heartwarming and questionable.
Jon Krakauer, a fellow mountain climber and author of books such as “Into Thin Air” and “Into the Wild,” was initially a great supporter of Mortenson, but has since become concerned with how Mortenson’s charity, the Central Asia Institute (CAI), has been managed. In conjunction with CBS news magazine “60 Minutes,” Krakauer investigated Mortenson’s past and found that much of his work is fraudulent.
In his new essay, “Three Cups of Deceit,” Krakauer attacks the factual basis of Mortenson’s book. Krakauer spoke with companions that accompanied Mortenson on the K2 journey who denied that Mortenson ever went to Korphe, and uncovered an article written by Mortenson after the summit attempt, which makes no mention of the trip and supposedly life-changing experience.
Mortenson also claimed that he was kidnapped by the Taliban for his efforts, and only managed to free himself after asking for a Quran and promising to build schools in the region. “60 Minutes” investigated a photo that Mortenson published claiming to depict himself and his kidnappers, and found that the men in the picture were members of a village Mortenson passed through, and were in actuality his protectors and bodyguards in the area. One of them, Mansur Khan Mahsud, is a think-tank director who has had articles published across the globe, and who believes that Mortenson claimed he was kidnapped “to sell his book.”
An investigation of the CAI’s financial records also finds irregularities. Krakauer notes the Institute’s Pennies 4 Peace program, which has American children from 3,000 schools donating loose change to the CAI, raised $1.7 million in 2009, while the allocation for what the program was billed as paying for – scholarships, salaries, supplies and expenses at the Pakistani schools – was $612,000. In comparison, the CAI spent $1.7 million on “book-related expenses,” more than they spent on all of their schools in Pakistan. The CAI also spent a portion of its $1.5 million advertising budget for promoting Mortenson’s books, and $1.3 million in travel expenses in the United States.
Krakauer notes that in 2002, four members of the CAI’s board, including the president and treasurer, resigned. They cited extensive financial irregularities, and that Mortenson uses the CAI, as Krakauer put it, “as his private ATM machine.”
The organization claims to have built or supported 141 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. “60 Minutes” tracked down 30 of them, and found that half were “empty, built by someone else, or not receiving support at all.” Even worse, “60 Minutes” found no evidence that six Afghani schools Mortenson claims to have built exist at all.
“60 Minutes” tried to track down Mortenson, who did not respond to requests for comment. Confronting him at one of his many speaking engagements, for which he is paid $30,000 per appearance, Mortenson called security on the “60 Minutes” crew, who recounted that Mortenson “cancelled his afternoon appearance and left the hotel through a back entrance.”
Mortenson isn’t the first to face accusations of publishing a fraudulent memoir. James Frey famously caught criticism after his memoir of life as a drug addict, “A Million Little Pieces,” was found to be largely fabricated. Similarly, a 2008 memoir, “Love and Consequences” by Margaret Seltzer, claimed to be the tale of a former member of the Bloods gang in Los Angeles, and was discovered to be a fraud when the author’s sister contacted the publisher.
But Mortenson’s case, if verified, is possibly the most reprehensible. Under the guise of promoting education for girls in war-torn villages, Mortenson stands accused of profiting through deceit and exploiting the goodwill, charity and hearts of the millions who have read his books. Mortenson has claimed – in a somewhat lackluster fashion – that the allegations are false, and that he stands by every word in “Three Cups of Tea.” If the allegations against him are true, and Mortenson is indeed a fraud, Northeastern administrators should begin asking for their money back.
– Michael Denham can be reached at [email protected]
