Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way by Jon KrakauerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Forget Alanis! Want to teach your students about irony? Have them read Jon Krakauer's latest book, Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way. Ironies abound in this slim, whistle-blowing volume, dedicated to stripping Mortenson of his Indiana-Jones-Meets-Mother-Theresa facade. For a man who portrays himself as a crusader against anti-Muslim sentiments, he sure does spread a lot of fear-mongering with his fabricated tales of run-ins with the Taliban. And, for a man who presents himself as dedicated to the cause of alleviating the sufferings of others, he sure does fly on a lot of chartered jets, at the expense of his fundraising organization, the CAI. And, for a man who exhorts kids in the U.S. to give up their lunch money in order to provide educational opportunities for children in the Middle East, he sure has left a lot of empty school buildings languishing without supplies and staff in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It's about time someone exposed this guy for the fraud that he seems to be.
I found myself having two reactions while reading this book. On the one hand, there was something very satisfying about watching Jon Krakauer bring this over-inflated guy down. There's a certain justice in it, mixed with a bit of reality-TV-like entertainment. On the other hand, I felt very humbled by this morality tale. If we're being honest with ourselves, we all have a tendency to self-aggrandize to some degree. The only difference between normal people and guys like Greg Mortenson (or Ergun Caner, for those of you who followed that fiasco) is a little bit of audacity and luck. Greg Mortenson's story served to remind me yet again of the fallibility of human nature.
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This sounds very interesting! He's definitely been the topic of a few conversions we have had recently. He has put himself in a similar category to James Frey. I'm putting this on my short list.
ReplyDeleteWe just watched Into the Wild and it made me want to reread the book; it seems Krakauer is calling my name!