Greg Mortenson is the subject and coauthor of the bestseller Three Cups of Tea, a book that chronicles his noble plight to build schools in far-flung parts of Pakistan. The tale is heartwarming, inspirational, and, according to allegations made by Jon Krakauer and 60 Minutes in 2011, rife with half truths and outright lies. In his lengthy takedown of Mortenson, Krakauer wrote, “The first eight chapters of Three Cups of Tea are an intricately wrought work of fiction presented as fact. … 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.” I wrote about scandal here.
Yesterday morning Mortenson spoke publicly about the accusations for the first time since the 60 Minutes segment aired. In an exclusive interview with Tom Brokaw, Mortenson appeared neither contrite nor ashamed. He wouldn’t admit to fabricating portions of Three Cups of Tea. Instead he said this: “What I regret is that we were under tremendous pressure to bring about a million words down to 300,000 words.” That’s essentially the same thing that he told Outside Magazine after the scandal first broke: “In order to be convenient, there were some omissions. If we included everything I did from 1993 to 2003 it would take three books to write it. So there were some omissions and compressions . . .”
Last I checked it’s entirely possible to shorten a story without making shit up.
The interview, which aired on the Today Show Tuesday morning, left me vexed. But as the day wore on, I realized I wasn’t really irritated with Mortenson. Sure, I think he’s a fraud. But his behavior was pretty predictable. Like many liars, he stuck to his story.
What really irked me is that NBC offered Mortenson a platform to spout vague platitudes and a halfhearted apology. And that Brokaw, a veteran journalist, let Mortenson give stumbly answers that provide little insight or clarity.
At one point Brokaw even interrupted, feeding Mortenson his next excuse.
Brokaw: Didn’t you think to yourself, “Geez, that’s not exactly how it happened?”
Mortenson: “I stand by the stories. The stories happened, but it was . . .
Brokaw: Not always in the sequence?
Mortenson: Not in the sequence or the timing.
Brokaw could have pushed. He could have asked about specific incidents. For example, Mortenson writes about being kidnapped and held by Taliban militants, something Krakauer claims never happened. Mortenson’s guide denied the story and sent Krakauer handwritten notes and photographs refuting Mortenson’s version of events. In one photo, Mortenson grasps an AK-47. How would Mortenson have explained that photo? We’ll never know. Brokaw didn’t ask.
Perhaps Brokaw’s hands were tied: Mortenson might have demanded certain concessions in exchange for granting an interview. Or maybe the editing made Brokaw seem meeker than he really was. The entire piece lasted less than five minutes. Perhaps in the raw tape, Brokaw pushed and pushed, but Mortenson steadfastly refused to give him the goods.
Maybe we’ll never know how Three Cups of Tea became riddled with falsehoods. Mortenson has yet to accept responsibility. David Oliver Relin, Mortenson’s coauthor, might have been able to explain. Unfortunately he never told his side of the story. And in 2012 he took his own life. Viking, Mortenson’s publisher, promised to launch an investigation soon after the allegations surfaced. But if such an investigation took place, the results have never been made public. And despite the serious allegations that large chunks of Three Cups of Tea are false, the book remains on the nonfiction shelves of bookstores.
It’s an unsatisfying ending. “I failed in many ways, and it’s an important lesson,” Mortenson told Brokaw. “I’m going to try as hard as I can never to make the same mistakes again.” It’s not clear what lesson Mortenson learned, or what mistakes he thinks he made, but if he wants to avoid repeating them, detailing his transgressions and then taking responsibility for them might be a good first step.
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Image credit: Express Monorail on Flickr
So disappointing…. I read his books, I considered him one of those super special human beings, soaring above us all.
I am not inclined to idolize people, but he was one of my “standards” to measure greatness.
I remember the huge disappointment with the first accusations, and hoped he would clarify the issues. Now with this interview, it makes it all even worse.
Sally, I totally agree.
Jill, exactly!! How hard would that have been?
Q: You wrote that you were kidnapped by the Taliban. Was that an omission or a compression?
Okay, no one will believe this but I’ll say it. I never believed that story, even from the beginning. I’ve read hundreds of climbing stories and that one just didn’t seem right. Plus, he always struck me as too pleased with himself. It just smelled like a load. And that second book is just painful. Still, I would have thought he’d go the break-down-on-camera route.
Ahhh, Mortenson and Armstrong have greatly disappointed me recently. Not because I invested in their books and their fairy-tales, we are humans after all. It’s the fact that when everything came out, it was their chance to take ownership of what they created and simply admit that they got caught up in the adrenalin rush and didn’t make the right decisions.