ABOUT THE AUTHORS
- Greg Mortenson Bio
- Greg Mortenson Q&A
- David Oliver Relin Bio
Greg Mortenson is the co-founder of the non-profit Central Asia Institute, Pennies For Peace organization, and co-author of New York Times bestseller Three Cups of Tea which has been a bestseller for over nine months, since its release, and was Time Magazine Asia Book of The Year.Mortenson was born in Minnesota in 1957. He grew up on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (1958 to 1973). His father was a founder of Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC), a 480 bed teaching hospital. His mother founded the International School, Moshi.
He served in the U.S. Army in Germany during the Cold War (1977-1979), where he received the Army Commendation Medal, and later graduated from the Univ. of South Dakota (1983), and pursued graduate studies in neurophysiology.
On July 24th, 1992, Mortenson’s younger sister, Christa, died from a massive seizure after a lifelong struggle with epilepsy on the eve of a trip to visit Dyersville, Iowa, where the baseball movie, ‘Field of Dreams’, was filmed.
In 1993, to honor his sister’s memory, Mortenson attempted to climb Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second highest mountain in the Karakoram range.
After K2, while recovering in a local village called Korphe, Mortenson met a group of children sitting in the dirt writing with sticks in the sand, and made a promise to help them build a school.
From that rash promise, grew a remarkable humanitarian campaign, in which Mortenson has dedicated his life to promoting education and literacy, especially for girls, in remote, volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
As of 2007, Mortenson had established over 61 schools in rural regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which have provided education to over 25,000 children, including 14,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before.
His work has not been without difficulty. In 1996, he survived an eight day armed kidnapping in the Northwest Frontier Province tribal areas of Pakistan. He escaped a 2003 firefight, with feuding Afghan warlords, by hiding for eight hours under putrid animal hides in a truck going to a leather-tanning factory. He has overcome two fatwehs from enraged Islamic mullahs, endured CIA investigations, and has received hate mail and death threats from fellow Americans after 9/11, for helping Muslim children with education.
Mortenson is a living hero to rural communities of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he has gained the trust of Islamic leaders, military commanders, government officials and tribal chiefs, due to his tireless efforts to champion education, especially for girls.
He is one of a few foreigners who has worked extensively for fifteen years (spending over 65 months) in the region now considered the front lines of the war on terror.
His cross-cultural expertise has brought him to speak on Capital Hill, in Washington, D.C. at various “think tanks”, at the Pentagon and the Department of Defense, at libraries, universities, schools, churches, mosques, synagogues, business and civic groups, women's organizations, and many others. From March 2006 through 2007, he visited over 110 cities to talk about his message of peace through education.
Former NBC newscaster Tom Brokaw calls Mortenson, “One ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, who is really changing the world”.
Congresswoman Mary Bono (Representative – California) says, "I've learned more from Greg Mortenson about the causes of terrorism than I did during all our briefings on Capitol Hill. He is a true hero, whose creativity, courage, and compassion exemplify the true ideals of the American spirit.”
Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today, and the Washington, D.C.-based Freedom Forum, says “Mortenson doesn’t just climb mountains, he moves them, and through his courage, he gives hope and has changed the lives of thousands of children, in a region of turmoil considered the front lines of the war on terror”.
Mortenson advocates girls’ education as the top priority to promote economic development, peace and prosperity, and says, “You can drop bombs, hand out condoms, build roads, or put in electricity, but until the girls are educated a society won’t change”.
When he is not overseas, Mortenson, 49, lives in Bozeman, Montana with his wife, Dr. Tara Bishop, a clinical psychologist, and their two children.
Three Cups of Tea - Book Awards and Mentions
Kiriyama Prize Non-fiction Award
Time Magazine Asia Book of the Year
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association – Non-fiction Award
Montana Honor Book Award
Borders Bookstore Original Voices Selection
Banff Mountain Festival Book Award - Finalist
Dayton Literary Prize Nonfiction Award – Runner up
People Magazine – Critics Choice
Publisher’s Weekly – Starred Review