This is a long 350-pages, which I feel can be summed up very briefly: Education is the key to world peace. The story of Greg Mortenson is worth reading, as it certainly educates on many fronts. He's a unique, larger-than-life character, who comes across to all those who know him well as "not one of us. He is his own species."
Having made a promise to build a school in the high altitudes of Pakistan shortly after his failed attempt to climb K-2 to spread the ashes of his youngest sister, Mortenson lives for this goal. He's single-minded, determined, and fearless. His efforts to raise funds give new meaning to the term grassroots. But he does succeed in spite of mountainous obstacles put before him. Three Cups of Tea provides every detail of this struggle.
The writing is excellent, although mid-way through I felt as though I were reading a Time magazine article (or perhaps Parade Magazine article is the better choice) that wouldn't end. By mid-book, I found Mortenson--and reading about his outgoing while in Pakistan, yet reclusive while in the States personality frustrating. Although his wife, Tara Bishop, fell in love with him for his passion regarding the school/s project, once they were married (six days after meeting) and she was carrying his child, I resented his apparent recklessness regarding his personal safety in volatile and hostile terrain. My attitude changed after 9-11, however, and how he pleaded with the world to try and see that not all Muslims are terrorists. Learning he received hate mail from many, many Americans after this proclamation, illustrated how much ignorance is out there. It led me to champion his cause in spite of the hardships it brought to his family. His accomplishments are amazing and truly admirable. I was left with the impression that this was not a man merely in search of an extraordinary life, but rather, this is an extraordinary man, who genuinely believed in a noble and worthy cause, and stopped at nothing to see it through.
His meeting with Donald Rumsfeld, then Secretary of Defense--particularly the way he compares and contrasts his meeting/s with Taliban leaders--was especially interesting. Mortenson tries to make the case for Afghanistan civilians, victims of the war (deemed collateral damage), who were forgotten when the American army switched its focus to Iraq. If you want to try and understand how and why the reputation of the United States has suffered around the globe since 9-11, Three Cups of Tea certainly makes its case.
