Greg Mortenson Responds To 60 Minutes Piece By Blaming His Ghostwriter

Greg Mortenson, you may recall, was recently the subject of a rather scathing investigative report by 60 Minutes that blasted the humanitarian efforts highlighted in Mortenson’s books – like the popular Three Cups of Tea – as being the result of “exaggeration, fabrication, And ‘BS.’” Mortenson has also been accused of mismanaging funds for the Central Asia Institute and of having fabricated several of the inspiring stories included in his books.

The author is now discussing that report with none other than Outside magazine (one of only two publications Mortenson has elected to speak with in the wake of the 60 Minutes piece – the other being his local newspaper), and is essentially blaming David Oliver Relin, who co-authored and has joint copyright of , for any inconsistencies or embellishments in his books.

Mortenson acknowledged that, while he had a great story to tell, his writing left much to be desired, so he was more than open to collaborating with a seasoned writer like Relin:

That’s where some of the issues are. It’s really complicated, but I’m not a journalist. I don’t take a lot of notes. David and I collaborated. He did nearly all the writing, and along with hundreds of interviews of those involved in the story, I helped him piece together the whole timeline, and from that we started creating the narrative arc and everything.

David insisted on writing the book in third person, which is really awkward. The publisher said, Greg, you’re too understated, so this needs to be in the third person. My wife, Tara, also told me that if I wrote a book, it would be a pamphlet.

What happens then is, when you re-create the scenes, you have my recollections, the different memories of those involved, you have his writing, and sometimes things come out different. 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, and … I don’t know, what that’s called?

The bulk of the problem seems to be that, for the sake of creating a enjoyable and easy to follow narrative, Mortenson’s various trips abroad were compressed into one excursion, meaning that many of the dates and details have been “fudged” for the sake of a good read. Mortenson says he he would have spent more time and effort on writing his books himself had he not also been busy raising a family. Nonetheless, he maintains that several of the claims made in the 60 Minutes report regarding his actions overseas are “inaccurate.” Additionally, he chose not to speak with Jon Krakauer and Steve Kroft during their investigation because they did not, apparently, identify for whom they were writing and that, in any case, he only first heard about their investigation on April 13th.

The Outside interview makes for an interesting (if long) read, but the takeaway, basically is this: Mortenson is a family man who was just trying to spend some time with his wife and kin while forces beyond this control – from his collaborator to the 60 Minutes crew – made of his story what they would.

The question then is… Is this a good excuse? If you put out a product with your name on it, on which your reputation on a humanitarian and public figure most certainly depend, isn’t it your responsibility to make sure that product is up to par, regardless of other forces at play?

h/t Outside

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