Jon Krakauer (Ed Andrieski / AP Photo),Ed Andrieski
Greg Mortenson’s PR nightmare is about to get worse: Jon Krakauer, adventurer and bestselling author of books including Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, has penned a short work titled Three Cups of Deceit, in which he takes Mortenson to task for fraud. His book argues that Mortenson significantly stretched the truth in Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, and that the author took advantage of people—who donated millions of dollars—who truly believed in his philanthropic causes as a children's crusader. Krakauer himself originally donated $75,000 to Mortenson's education nonprofit, Central Asia Institute, though he recently withdrew the money. "It's a beautiful story, and it's a lie," Krakauer told CBS of Tea. Krakauer's Three Cups of Deceit will be released as a Kindle Single on April 20.