by Greg Mortenson is under fire by 60 minutes and other watchdog groups as shown on Sunday's 60 minutes and many morning news programs Monday and Tuesday morning. Since I really enjoyed reading this book and his follow up Stones Into Schools 
I am into finding out what's up!An interview I saw this morning featured Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air
and other non-fiction books and magazine articles. Krakauer is a former supporter of Mortonsen who is now on the attack. Part of the controversy over the book is that Mortenson is being blamed for getting dates and events timeline wrong as well as locations and events. In Mortenson's defense I don't believe when he got the idea to fund these schools and start this movement he was ever thinking about writing a book. If you asked me to go back two years and write about what happened I imagine I would get many of the dates and details confused as well. I understand Krakauer's concern, but at the same time when he writes a book or article it's planned, and as such he is keeping notes and documenting events and working his story as it happens. That is very different from going back in time and putting the story back together after it's already unfolded. Even Kraukouer's book Into Thin Air had controversy with differing opinions from others that were there about what really happened. He comments on that at the end of the book.So that being said I can forgive Mortonsen for some messed up timelines and events. I also know from my husband who worked in Afghanistan building roads using local contractors that sometimes money is spent on contractors who dissappear or on getting approvals from "officials", and that work is done at a pace that often reflects the word "inshallah" it will be done when it is done. You can't apply the same mindset for doing business in Afghanistan that you would in the United States.
Building schools for girls in Afghanistan is an important mission and one that I hope will get more attention due to the controversy around Mortenson. Mortenson so far has claimed no wrong doing, and said that indeed parts of the story were compressed to fit into the framework of a book. I'm very interested to see how this all plays out, and sincerely hope that Mortenson is vindicated.
