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Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way Paperback – Illustrated, July 1, 2011

by Jon Krakauer (Author)

4.2 1,789 ratings

Goodreads Choice Award nominee

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Greg Mortenson, the bestselling author of Three Cups of Tea, is a man who has built a global reputation as a selfless humanitarian and children’s crusader, and he’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. But, as bestselling author Jon Krakauer demonstrates in this extensively researched and penetrating book, he is not all that he appears to be.

Based on wide-ranging interviews with former employees, board members, and others who have intimate knowledge of Mortenson and his charity, the Central Asia Institute, Three Cups of Deceit uncovers multiple layers of deception behind Mortenson’s public image. Was his crusade really inspired by a desire to repay the kindness of villagers who nursed him back to health when he became lost on his descent down K2? Was he abducted and held for eight days by the Taliban? Has his charity built all of the schools that he has claimed? This book is a passionately argued plea for the truth, and a tragic tale of good intentions gone very wrong.

100% of Jon Krakauer’s proceeds from the sale of Three Cups of Deceit will be donated to the “Stop Girl Trafficking” project at the American Himalayan Foundation (www.himalayan-foundation.org/live/project/stopgirltrafficking).

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128 pages
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English
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Anchor
Publication date

July 1, 2011
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5.22 x 0.44 x 7.89 inches
ISBN-10

0307948765
ISBN-13

978-0307948762
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Greg Mortenson is the bestselling author of Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, a tireless advocate for improved education in impoverished areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the founder of the Central Asia Institute (CAI), a non-profit that builds schools in these areas. He's also, according to Jon Krakauer, not all that he appears to be. Krakauer is himself a bestselling author (Into the Wild, Into Thin Air), with a well-deserved reputation for penetrating nonfiction. Motivated by his own humanitarian concerns, and having donated considerable sums to CAI, Krakauer now applies his investigative skills to the unmasking of what he calls the "image of Mortenson that has been created for public consumption… an artifact born of fantasy, audacity, and an apparently insatiable hunger for esteem." Did Mortenson discover the village that inspired his crusade while wandering lost down K2? Was he abducted and held for eight days by the Taliban? Has he built all the schools that he has claimed? Tempered by Krakauer's fairly giving CAI credit where it's due, Three Cups of Deceit mounts an extensive, passionate exploration into these questions. --Jason Kirk

Review

"Packed with interviews and anecdotes that undercut Mortenson's image as a cheerful do-gooder, Krakauer's account of good intentions gone horribly wrong is a stunning example of investigative journalism." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Krakauer forcefully claims that Mortenson improperly used his charity’s funds and failed to build all the schools he says he did.” –Chicago Tribune

About the Author

Jon Krakauer is the author of eight books and has received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. According to the award citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer."

www.jonkrakauer.com

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

   Greg Mortenson doesn’t hide his light under a bushel. He makes more than 160 public appearances annually, in all parts of the country and abroad, and frequently appears in the news. For each of the past three years he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. President Obama donated $100,000 of the award money from his own Nobel Peace Prize, which he received in 2009, to the Central Asia Institute (CAI)—the charity Mortenson launched fifteen years ago to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Visiting classrooms wherever he goes, Mortenson has persuaded 2,800 American schools to become fundraising partners; last year, schoolkids collecting “Pennies for Peace” boosted CAI revenues by $2.5 million. All told, his vigorous promotion of the Greg Mortenson brand generated $23 million in donations to CAI in 2010 alone.
   On March 29 of this year, I attended a lecture Mortenson gave in Cheyenne, Wyoming. As he walked onto the stage in the sold-out arena, more than two thousand men, women, and children leapt to their feet to express their admiration with cheers, whistles, and deafening applause. “If we really want to help people, we have to empower people,” Mortenson pronounced. “And empowering people starts with education.” A book cover depicting Afghan girls engrossed in study was projected onto the screen above the stage. “So I wrote this book called Three Cups of Tea,” he deadpanned. “Some of you might have heard about it…”
   Laughter rippled through the crowd. Hoping to get an autograph from Mortenson, hundreds of fans were holding copies of his book, which had spent the previous four years and two months on the New York Times paperback nonfiction bestseller list, and showed every sign of remaining there well into the future. Some five million copies are now in print, including special editions for “young readers” and “very young readers” (kindergarten through fourth grade). Moreover, the multitudes who have bought Three Cups haven’t merely read it; they’ve embraced it with singular passion. Since its publication in 2006, people galvanized by this autobiographical account of Mortenson’s school-building adventures have donated more than $50 million to the Central Asia Institute. The book’s popularity stems from its forceful, uncomplicated theme—terrorism can be eradicated by educating children in impoverished societies—and its portrayal of Mortenson as a humble, Gandhi-like figure who has repeatedly risked life and limb to advance his humanitarian agenda.
   Told in the third person by Mortenson’s co-author, David Oliver Relin, Three Cups begins with Mortenson hiking down Pakistan’s Baltoro Glacier in September 1993, having failed to climb K2, the second-highest peak on earth. A trauma nurse by profession, he’d been invited to join an expedition to K2 to serve as the team medic.1 After two months of punishing effort, however, Mortenson realized he lacked the strength to reach the summit, so he abandoned his attempt and left the expedition early. Exhausted and dejected, the thirty-five-year-old mountaineer reached into a pocket as he trudged down the trail and “fingered the necklace of amber beads that his little sister Christa had often worn. As a three-year-old in Tanzania, where Mortenson’s Minnesota-born parents had been Lutheran missionaries and teachers, Christa had contracted acute meningitis and never fully recovered. Greg, twelve years her senior, had appointed himself her protector.”
   In July 1992, at age twenty-three, Christa had suffered a massive epileptic seizure, apparently stemming from her childhood health problems, and died. Ten months later, Mortenson had trekked into the Karakoram Range with Christa’s necklace, intending to leave it on K2’s 28,267-foot summit, which is considerably more difficult to reach than the crest of Mount Everest. Now the defeated Mortenson “wiped his eyes with his sleeve, disoriented by the unfamiliar tears…. After seventy-eight days of primal struggle at altitude on K2, he felt like a faint, shriveled caricature of himself.” He wasn’t even sure he had the strength to make it to Askole, the village at trail’s end, fifty miles down the valley.
   A week into his homeward trek through Baltistan, as this corner of Pakistan is known, Mortenson became separated from Mouzafer Ali, the Balti porter he had hired to carry his heavy backpack. Without Mouzafer’s guidance, Mortenson took a wrong turn and lost his way. A few hours later, he arrived at a village he assumed was Askole. As Mortenson walked into the settlement, a throng of local youngsters, fascinated by the tall foreigner, gathered around him. “By the time he reached the village’s ceremonial entrance…he was leading a procession of fifty children.”
   Just beyond, Mortenson was greeted warmly by “a wizened old man, with features so strong they might have been carved out of the canyon walls.” His name was Haji Ali, the village chieftain. He led Mortenson to his stone hut, “placed cushions at the spot of honor closest to the open hearth, and installed Mortenson there…. When Mortenson looked up, he saw the eyes of the fifty children who had followed him,” peering down from a large square opening in the roof. “Here, warm by the hearth, on soft pillows, snug in the crush of so much humanity, he felt the exhaustion he’d been holding at arm’s length surge up over him.”
   At that moment, though, Haji Ali revealed to Mortenson that he wasn’t in Askole, as the American believed. Owing to his wrong turn, he’d blundered into a village called Korphe. “Adrenaline snapped Mortenson back upright. He’d never heard of Korphe…. Rousing himself, he explained that he had to get to Askole and meet a man named Mouzafer who was carrying all his belongings. Haji Ali gripped his guest by the shoulders with his powerful hands and pushed him back on the pillows.” Surrendering to fatigue, Mortenson closed his eyes and sank into a deep sleep.
In Three Cups of Tea, Mortenson never indicates exactly how many days he spent in Korphe on that initial visit in 1993, but he implies it was a lengthy stay:

From his base in Haji Ali’s home, Mortenson settled into a routine. Each morning and afternoon he would walk briefly about Korphe, accompanied, as always, by children tugging at his hands…. Off the Baltoro, out of danger, he realized just how precious his own survival had been, and how weakened he’d become. He could barely make it down the switchback path that led to the river…. Wheezing his way back up to the village, he felt as infirm as the elderly men who sat for hours at a time under Korphe’s apricot trees, smoking from hookahs and eating apricot kernels. After an hour or two of poking about each day he’d succumb to exhaustion and return to stare at the sky from his nest of pillows by Haji Ali’s hearth.

   During his protracted recuperation in Korphe, Mortenson became aware of the Baltis’ poverty, and “how close they lived to hunger.” He noticed the widespread malnutrition and disease, and learned that one out of every three Korphe children perished before their first birthday. “Mortenson couldn’t imagine discharging the debt he felt to his hosts in Korphe. But he was determined to try.” He gave away most of his possessions, including his camping stove and warm expedition clothing.

  Each day, as he grew stronger, he spent long hours climbing the steep paths between Korphe’s homes, doing what little he could to beat back the avalanche of need…. He set broken bones and did what little he could with painkillers and antibiotics. Word of his work spread and the sick on the outskirts of Korphe began sending relatives to fetch “Dr. Greg,” as he would thereafter be known in northern Pakistan….
   Often during his time in Korphe, Mortenson felt the presence of his little sister Christa, especially when he was with Korphe’s children…. They reminded [him] of the way Christa had to fight for the simplest things. Also the way she had of just persevering, no matter what life threw at her. He decided he wanted to do something for them…. Lying by the hearth before bed, Mortenson told Haji Ali he wanted to visit Korphe’s school.

The following morning, “after their familiar breakfast of chapattis and cha,”

Haji Ali led Mortenson up a steep path to a vast open ledge…. He was appalled to see eighty-two children, seventy-eight boys and the four girls who had the pluck to join them, kneeling in the frosty ground, in the open. Haji Ali, avoiding Mortenson’s eyes, said that the village had no school, and the Pakistani government didn’t provide a teacher…. Mortenson watched, his heart in his throat, as the students stood at rigid attention and began their ‘school day’ with Pakistan’s national anthem…. After the last note of the anthem had faded, the children sat in a neat circle and began copying their multiplication tables. Most scratched in the dirt with a stick they’d brought for that purpose.

   “I felt like my heart was being torn out,” Mortenson declares in this passage. “There was a fierceness in their desire to learn, despite how mightily everything was stacked against them, that reminded me of Christa. I knew I had to do something.” As Mortenson stood beside Haji Ali that crisp autumn morning, gazing up at the towering peaks of the Karakoram,

climbing K2 to place a necklace on its summit suddenly felt beside the point. There was a much more meaningful gesture he could make in honor of his sister’s memory. He put his hands on Haji Ali’s shoulders, as the old man had done to him dozens of times since they’d shared their first cup of tea. “I’m going to build you a school,” he said, not yet realizing that with those words, the path of his life had just detoured down another trail, a route far more serpentine and arduous than the wrong turns he’d taken since retreating from K2. “I will build a school,” Mortenson said. “I promise.”

   This, in Mortenson’s dramatic telling, is how he came to dedicate his life to building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He devotes nearly a third of the book to this transformative experience, which he says occurred in September 1993. It’s a compelling creation myth, one that he has repeated in thousands of public appearances and media interviews. The problem is, it’s precisely that: a myth.
   Mortenson didn’t really stumble into Korphe after taking a wrong turn on his way down from K2. He wasn’t lovingly nursed back to health in the home of Haji Ali. He set no villagers’ broken bones. On that crisp September morning, shortly before returning to America, Mortenson did not put his hands on Haji Ali’s shoulders and promise to build a school. In fact, Mortenson would not even make the acquaintance of Haji Ali, or anyone else in Korphe, until more than a year later, in October 1994, under entirely different circumstances.
   The first eight chapters of Three Cups of Tea are an intricately wrought work of fiction presented as fact. And by no means was this an isolated act of deceit. It turns out that Mortenson’s books and public statements are permeated with falsehoods. The image of Mortenson that has been created for public consumption is an artifact born of fantasy, audacity, and an apparently insatiable hunger for esteem. Mortenson has lied about the noble deeds he has done, the risks he has taken, the people he has met, the number of schools he has built. Three Cups of Tea has much in common with A Million Little Pieces, the infamous autobiography by James Frey that was exposed as a sham. But Frey, unlike Mortenson, didn’t use his phony memoir to solicit tens of millions of dollars in donations from unsuspecting readers, myself among them. Moreover, Mortenson’s charity, the Central Asia Institute, has issued fraudulent financial statements, and he has misused millions of dollars donated by schoolchildren and other trusting devotees. “Greg,” says a former treasurer of the organization’s board of directors, “regards CAI as his personal ATM.”

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Anchor; First Edition (July 1, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 128 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0307948765
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0307948762
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.22 x 0.44 x 7.89 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #400,598 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #20 in Non-Governmental Organization Policy
- #144 in Philanthropy & Charity (Books)
- #11,914 in Memoirs (Books)

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Jon Krakauer

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In 1999 Jon Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. According to the award citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer. His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind."

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David D.

The Ends Don't Justify the Means

Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2011

Verified Purchase

First off, I have read "Three Cups of Tea" before any of this negative publicity came out. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would quickly have recommended it to anyone who asked. One of the most compelling things about it was the story itself and the experiences Mortenson relayed in it helped give it credibility. I have not read his second book.

I saw the 60 Minutes story and it did raise concerns about the book, but I was not totally convinced. Since then I have seen several other articles that also raised similar questions as the 60 Minutes interview. I have also seen some rebuttals of the charges against Mortenson, but I've found them all to be lacking. They give generalities about why Mortenson is not lying or dishonest or just mistaken, but most give nothing that concrete, though maybe a few. Mostly they just "no he couldn't have lied, Greg's a great guy and he's done all this great work" sort of stuff. The website Outside Online did interview Mortenson for his rebuttal of these charges and even in this Mortenson does admit to some "license" with the story. For one example, in "Three Cups of Tea" Greg gives the impression he was in Korphe for many days resting up after his weakened condition from the K2 attempt and the villagers basically nursed him back to health...a very touching narrative that is meant to show how generous and hospitable the people were and was sort of the "defining moment" of when he decided to go on this altruistic path of building schools in all these remote places. But even Mortenson now admits he was only there a few hours and that the same day he met back up with his climbing partner Scott Darsney in another town. Hardly enough time to be nursed back to health.

Outside Online also interviewed Scott Darsney and he did say he felt Krakauer took some of what he said out of context and that it was "certainly plausible" Greg could have (not did) ended up in the village of Korphe after his failed K2 attempt despite Krakauer saying he did not. I tried posting a link but I guess Amazon doesn't like that.

But shortly thereafter Outside Online actually posted this blog which indicated that after further research it did NOT seem likely Mortenson ended up in Korphe after his failed K2 climb. Again, I can't post the link but you can go to the Outside Online website and search the blog on April 27, 2011 by Grayson Schaffer titled "Can't Get There From Here." (it also has a link in the blog to the Darsney interview mentioned above as well as Mortenson's rebuttal to Krakauer)

One excerpt from the above article - "...Outside has learned that Mortenson's revised Korphe account has serious problems. Even if Mortenson had got lost between Korofong and Askole, Outside now believes it would have been nearly impossible to end up in Korphe. What's more, we've found a troubling lack of documentation regarding Mortenson's climbing record in Nepal."

So anyway, as for this book itself, it is very thorough and well documented. You get names of people Krakauer interviewed. This is not just one or two disgruntled people, this is person after person including former CAI board members, associates in Pakistan and Afghanistan, well-known mountaineers, and even a foreign researcher who has spent many years in Afghanistan and the surrounding area with one of the tribes Mortenson proudly parades in his second book. Krakauer lists names for almost all of them so it's easy enough to verify who they are if that's what you feel you need to do. He even has a picture of Mortenson gleefully holding an AK-47 with a group of men...men who Mortenson actually showed a picture of in his book and said they were Taliban who kidnapped him for eight days. I guess kidnappers let their abductees play with their weapons now.

Even if you take into account the "creative license" of writing and that perhaps there was just some "different points of view" of certain events, Mortenson's stories are still full of holes. But what is really eye-opening is that CAI pays for ALL of Mortenson's trips and advertising to promote his books...and yet they receive absolutely no proceeds from the book itself. And does Greg fly commercial? No, he has charter jets take him everywhere. Additionally, Mortenson even used CAI money to buy tens of thousands of copies of his book from retailers that he handed out at some of his conferences. He buys from retailers because it a.) allows him to receive the royalties from it and b.)it contributes to the number used to rank him on the bestseller list...neither of these things would happen if he got them directly from the publisher (for much less money). And the real icing on the cake is that over all the years, one of the most common complaints from those who resigned from CAI was that Mortenson absolutely refused to ever provide basic accountability information, like receipts or expense reports for what he was doing with the money.

I won't even get into the question of how effective (or ineffective) the schools CAI has or has claimed to have built. That certainly does not bode well for Mortenson either.

The bottom line is that CAI seems to be a organization that has a noble goal and Mortenson may very well have started out with good intentions, but these do not justify Mortenson's lying or his financial irresponsibility. My advice would be to stop giving to CAI until Mortenson steps down and a new board of directors takes over that is willing to be organized and transparent. When that happens CAI will again be a worthwhile organization to support. Until that time there are plenty of other noble charities to support that let you know exactly where your money goes.

46 people found this helpful

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Jill Clardy

Another Hero Story Debunked....

Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2013

Verified Purchase

When I first read Mortenson's books several years ago, I was impressed with his vision and commitment, but skeptical of some of the fantastic stories and turned off a bit by Mortenson's excessive hubris. I did not donate to the fund because after visiting their website, I couldn't validate that the donations were being used substantially in support of the primary cause. Then along came Krakauer's expose which was front page news for a brief time. Krakauer has long been one of my favorite non-fiction authors, both for the incredibly well researched subject matter and his finely tuned writing abilities. I didn't read "Three Cups of Deceit" at that time, but continued to follow the case from time to time.

After recently reading the excellent new book from David Relin, Mortenson's co-author of "Three Cups", my interest in the situation was renewed. (It should be noted that Relin committed suicide in late 2012. The legal case against him as a result of his co-authorship of "Three Cups" was ongoing.)

In his usual factual manner, Krakauer dissects several of Mortenson's foundational stories, citing sources which have lead to the conclusion that the stories were fabricated. Some of Mortenson's stories don't even need to be validated with another source - he claimed to visit the body of the deceased Mother Theresa 3 years after her death. Krakauer also interviewed former board of director members and financial executives of CAI who validated that Mortenson's financial records were in disarray. For instance, though he pocketed all of the book royalties as personal income, all of the expenses related to the book promotional speaking engagements were paid by CAI. Attempts to bring the disorganized company into compliance with legal and IRS regulations for the conduct of a non-profit corporation were rebuffed.

What is clear after reading "Three Cups of Deceit" is that Mortenson's books are a combination of fiction and non-fiction, and people who thought they were reading pure 100% non-fiction feel deceived. I noted how many different expressions and euphemisms Krakauer uses to communicate dishonesty: manufactured, invented, scant regard for societal conventions, unaccountable, disdain for routine business practices, intransigent, things he was hiding, swept the issues...under the rug, stonewalling, disingenuous, lied, not factual, mendacity, habitual lying, fabricated, dishonesty, in violation of, pervasive dishonesty, false stories, deliberately misleading, dysfunctional management, a whopper, embellish, duplicity, and probably a few others I did not highlight.

Though I found the short book very compelling, well researched and foot-noted, I thought that, in the interest of fairness, Krakauer should have put the section regarding the good work that Mortenson has done at the beginning rather than the end. It cannot be argued that he has done some good in the region, probably not as much as he has proclaimed, and probably not exactly as he claimed. The fact that the CAI was not destroyed by the allegations and the legal cases being made against Mortenson and his organization are a testament to the fact that their mission is still intact and viable. With the proper oversight, auditing and financial controls in place, the organization can do even more of the good works that the public was hoping for when donations were made. Krakauer's expose and the subsequent investigations have ensured that this will occur.

12 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

rossco

The Disappointment

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 14, 2015

Verified Purchase

Not with the book but with the exposure of the man I found so inspiring. After many years of dedicated work in Romania and Albania with attendant risks the discovery of a fraud is always a disappointment, a shattered illusion.

I recommend this book for its honesty, it's thoroughly researched material. I would suggest that anyone involved in volunteer charity work read this book to serve as a warning that all may not be what it seems and always to question where you have a doubt.

4 people found this helpful

Martin Berthiaume

When it is too good to be true...

Reviewed in Canada on December 10, 2011

Verified Purchase

What a deception!
We always want to believe in the goodness of people and we ,this time, really got "deceived" by this "Holy" man, who is Mr.Greg Mortenson.
So , As usual Mr.Krakauer investigate a story with the minutie of a real life Sherlock Holme and really ,this time more than ever, I am saying :thank you Mr.Krakauer because this really really needed to be done .
The unfortunate thing about this book though is the fact that it is probably coming a little too late , hundreds and hundreds of dogooders have already been milked from their money and this is not likely to stop as lots of people will probably still want to believe in Mr.Mortensen's story.

This book is a quick read but countains so much deceptions that it is hard to keep the count;
Like so many before , I fell for Mortensen's story but if Krakauer comes in and tells me "it is a complete load of crap, we all got duped and here is the real story" well then, I definitely believe Mr.Krakauer who as proven himself to be truthful over and over in the past.

Why didn't Oprah uncovered this, it would have been dynamite !!!

Martin "the dark Cyclist"

One person found this helpful

Nicholas Carson

The truth behind the building of fictitious schools in Afghanistan.

Reviewed in Canada on August 27, 2017

Verified Purchase

Another deeply researched book by the Master of this genre. Quite the expose of a well known and possibly well meaning "con man"
I have read all of Jon's books and can recommend all of them.

One person found this helpful

Jo

Well-structured, well-written work providing an interesting insight

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 14, 2011

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Though I haven't entirely finished reading this yet, I am incredibly intrigued by the entire story. The author clearly hasn't been tempted to take artistic license (unlike the pieces of Mortenson's writing picked apart in this book) so as the reader you're provided with a straightforward start-to-finish account in clear and clear direct language. Krakauer doesn't drift off into other stories or strange musings, he states and argues his case point by point, leaving nothing to the imagination. Reading this I feel like I am being educated about the goings-on not only in Mortenson's organization, but potentially very many other charitable organizations. The unpretentious narratives makes this a very enjoyable reading experience and the story itself is just immensely interesting.

24 people found this helpful

Keith Zubot-Gephart

Truth is stranger and somewhat more depressing than fiction

Reviewed in Canada on September 26, 2015

Verified Purchase

Not merely a well-researched expose of a pathological liar heading a monetarily (but apparently not practically) successful charity, but a series of vivid brief portraits of the people who form the real story, as opposed to the fabrications of Mortenson. Ultimately a bit unsatisfying, but by no fault of Kakauer's; the problem is that the charity in question still exists to this day because not enough people seem to know or care about the fundamentally fictional nature of its origins and works.

2 people found this helpful

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