Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan [Hardcover]

Greg Mortenson (Author), Khaled Hosseini (Foreword)

Book Description

Release date: December 1, 2009

From the author of the #1 bestseller Three Cups of Tea, the continuing story of this determined humanitarian’s efforts to promote peace through education

In this dramatic first-person narrative, Greg Mortenson picks up where Three Cups of Tea left off in 2003, recounting his relentless, ongoing efforts to establish schools for girls in Afghanistan; his extensive work in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan after a massive earthquake hit the region in 2005; and the unique ways he has built relationships with Islamic clerics, militia commanders, and tribal leaders. He shares for the first time his broader vision to promote peace through education and literacy, as well as touching on military matters, Islam, and women—all woven together with the many rich personal stories of the people who have been involved in this remarkable two-decade humanitarian effort.

Since the 2006 publication of Three Cups of Tea, Mortenson has traveled across the U.S. and the world to share his vision with hundreds of thousands of people. He has met with heads of state, top military officials, and leading politicians who all seek his advice and insight. The continued phenomenal success of Three Cups of Tea proves that there is an eager and committed audience for Mortenson’s work and message.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From Viking Press
In regards to the 60 Minutes episode that aired April 17, 2011: "Greg Mortenson’s work as a humanitarian in Afghanistan and Pakistan has provided tens of thousands of children with an education. 60 Minutes is a serious news organization and in the wake of their report, Viking plans to carefully review the materials with the author." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Mortenson’s best-seller, Three Cups of Tea (2009), introduced his commitment to peace through education and became a book-club phenomenon. He now continues the story of how the Central Asia Institute (CAI) built schools in northern Afghanistan. Descriptions of the harsh geography and more than one near-death experience impress readers as new faces join Mortenson’s loyal “Dirty Dozen” as they carefully plot a course of school-building through the Badakshan province and Wakhan corridor. Mortenson also shares his friendships with U.S. military personnel, including Admiral Mike Mullen, and the warm reception his work has found among the officer corps. The careful line CAI threads between former mujahideen commanders, ex-Taliban and village elders, and the American soldiers stationed in their midst is poetic in its political complexity and compassionate consideration. Using schools not bombs to promote peace is a goal that even the most hard-hearted can admire, but to blandly call this book inspiring would be dismissive of all the hard work that has gone into the mission in Afghanistan as well as the efforts to fund it. Mortenson writes of nothing less than saving the future, and his adventure is light years beyond most attempts. Mortenson did not reach the summit of K2, but oh, the heights he has achieved. --Colleen Mondor

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1st edition (December 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670021156
• ISBN-13: 978-0670021154
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (344 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #176,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > History > Asia > Pakistan
  • #75 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > War & Peace

More About the Author

photo (c) 2009 Khyber Mortenson

Greg Mortenson is the co-founder and director of the nonprofit Central Asia Institute www.ikat.org and founder of Pennies For Peace www.penniesforpeace.org.

He is the co-author of Three Cups of Tea www.threecupsoftea.com, which has been a New York Times nonfiction paperback bestseller for overfour years, and published in 49 countries, and also the author of Stones Into Schools, Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan www.stonesintoschools.com.

Since a 1993 climb of Pakistan's K2, Mortenson has worked in rural Afghanistan and Pakistan to promote education and literacy, to establish 178 schools, especially for girls, which provide education to over 68,000 students, including 54,000 females.

Three Cups of Tea is required reading for senior U.S. military commanders, and U.S. Special Forces deploying to Afghanistan, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committe. The book has been a freshman or common book read in over 160 universities and colleges, and a 'One Book' read in over 400 communities.

His second book, Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books Not Bombs in Pakistan and Afghanistan debuted at # 2 on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list.

In 2009, Mortenson received the Sitara-e-Pakistan, which is Pakistan's highest civil award for his humanitarian efforts, While not overseas, Mortenson is a prolific reader, and enjoys being home in Montana with his wife and two children in Montana.

More detailed biography on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Mortenson
Mortenson is on Twitter gregmortenson.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

243 of 262 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Stones Into Schools: Mortenson Summits Again December 3, 2009

By Donna A. Syed

Format:Hardcover

In his latest book, Greg Mortenson hosts the reader as a valuable and welcomed traveling companion as he retraces his steps through the most remote areas of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier areas and the formidable terrain of Afghanistan holding a mirror to our humanity. Mortenson introduces us to his trusted companions t...urned employees of Central Asia Institute, the so-called "Dirty Dozen", who truly embody the virtues of goodwill and perseverance in the name of literacy and, of course, God.

In short, Greg Mortenson's work makes Anthony Bordain's exotic travel look like a visit to Epcot Center.

Mortenson's committment to cross-cultural understanding beyond the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan is rivaled only by his determination to educate the under-served girls in the most remote areas of these countries. Stones Into Schools is a suspenseful, heart-breaking as it is heart-warming, true account of a life well lived and a people well-served. Mortenson is an honor to the human race and diplomat for world peace. About now, Greg Mortenson would do well to take his own advice and sit for a month under a walnut tree to recuperate.

120 of 131 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational - Should be a must read for high school graduates December 4, 2009

By Music Fan

Format:Hardcover

I read Three Cups of Tea was was incredibly inspired by Greg Mortenson. His second book is even better in my opinion. Teaching people that they have the power to change themselves is so simple but sometimes takes incredibale amounts of work by other people. Greg and his team have performed incredible acts of bravery, endurance, and dedication to the noble cause of providing education to the girls of Pakistan and Afghanistan. You will not be able to put this book down. You also learn firsthand accounts of the success of many of the first girls to go through Greg's schools.
Read this book for an incredible account of an individual who has changed the world for so many people,

167 of 188 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Knotty Problem December 3, 2009

By David A. Mccrae

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I tend to collect mostly management books on my Kindle, so I have been looking forward to Greg Mortensen's latest report on his activities in his remote part of the world (also where my son works every day). I don't think the world has two more opposite places than Burnet County and Kunar Province. Since 2003, we've built a nice high school here in Burnet for our 1000+ kids, and later on a playground (stadium). Greg's outfit has built and staffed 129 schools, and innumerable civic improvements, such as bridges and water systems, to supply educational services to a previously unserved populace, at a cost of $1-3/student. I think their whole budget for the six years is less than the cost of one Tomahawk missile, with guidance and delivery (and spare parts). On the other hand General Motors, working in the most car consuming section of Planet Earth, with significant manufacturing infrastructure worldwide, has a hard time making ends meet. In short, Greg's book is now at the top of my list for 2009 management books.
Mother Teresa, in response to an interview question about the best way to go about changing the world, said 'Reach out to the nearest one.' Greg, in response to the same question, would probably say 'Go to the Last Best Place.' Both of these people have found a way to impact their world, and improve conditions more than a thousand-fold by their efforts.
Three cups of Tea has become required reading for the US Counterintelligence school at West point; I would hope this book gets added to the curriculum quickly.

77 of 86 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars STONES INTO SCHOOLS: PROMOTING PEACE WITH BOOKS, NOT BOMBS IN AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN December 7, 2009

By Bryan A. Groves

Format:Audible Audio Edition

Not a sequel to Mortenson's THREE CUPS OF TEA, STONES INTO SCHOOLS is a saga of Mortenson's ten year struggle to keep a promise to Commandhan Abdul Rashid Khan, chief of the Kirghiz, to build a school for his tribe at "the roof of the world" in the village of Bozai Gumbaz, 12,480 feet up in the Pamir Mountains of northern Afghanistan. It was this promise that caused Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute (CAI) to expand its operations beyond its original stomping grounds in the remoter villages of Pakistan.
During their struggle, jihad if you will, Greg Mortenson and his Afghan and Pakistani comrades, AKA "The Dirty Dozen," enjoy as, Safraz Khan, one of the many heroes in this story, describes it, "much success" as the Central Asia Institute build a chain of schools, scholarship programs, and literacy centers in war-torn Afghanistan and quake-stricken Pakistan.
Mortenson describes an Afghan people who are tired of and traumatized by thirty years of war. Still, they have not given up on life or a better future for their children. He details the slow, if enjoyable, process of building relationships with local leadership in countless villages in Afghanistan and Pakistan (AFPAK) during his many journeys. Important to note, Mortenson does not attempt to inflict American missionary culture and values on AFPAK villagers. I gather from reading Mortenson that every one of the 131 schools he and the CAI built in AFPAK was built at the request of local villagers and with the blessing of local leadership. He did not go village to village selling education as a good thing; villagers sought him out as word spread that he helped build schools.
Key to the success of CAI is local ownership of the schools it builds.... In each case, CAI requires the local villagers to provide the land and supply unskilled labor to help build the school. CAI provides funds for raw materials and skilled labor to build the school as well as money for school supplies and to pay the teaching staff for up to five years. Mortenson writes of one village where the Taliban nailed a "night letter" to the door of a new CAI school and delivered another one to the home of one of the teachers. In these letters, the Taliban threatened to burn down the school if any girls attended it. They also promised violence to the families of any girls over the age of fourteen who attended school. The villagers responded by naming one of their three mullahs as headmaster for the school. He met with local Taliban and informed them that the actions they proposed in their letters were clearly wrong and against the teachings of the Koran. No more "night letters" were delivered in that village and girls were allowed to attend the school.
Along with "much success" there are setbacks. Mortenson writes of a Pakistani girl who was prevented from accepting a CAI scholarship by a jealous brother-in-law. He tells of an Afghan shepherd boy who is killed by a Soviet land mine while grazing his flocks close to a CAI school that is being built in his village. (The boy's father later trains to become a humanitarian de-miner and returns to his village to remove thirty land mines from the areas surrounding the school.) He describes the anguish (seen through Safraz Khan's eyes) of the hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis made homeless by an earthquake in 2005. He tells of weathering mob violence in Afghanistan after Newsweek printed false claims that American soldiers had attempted to flush a Koran down a toilet at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
Mortenson speaks at length about his relationship with the military. Like most non-governmental organizations (NGOs), CAI strives to maintain strict neutrality. CAI takes no money from the United States Department of Defense or the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and relies totally on donations and book sales (Buy this book!) to fund its operations. Mortenson notes that his initial support for Operation ENDURING FREEDOM quickly waned when he read of civilian casualties from the American bombing campaign against the Taliban. He recounts a lecture on Afghan tribal culture he gave a group of officers at the Pentagon in 2002. He explained that before one tribe made war on another tribe, "the warring parties hold a jirga before joining in battle to discuss how many losses each side is willing to accept in light of the fact that the victors will be willing to care for the widows and orphans of the rivals they have vanquished." He went on to tell the officers "the worst thing that you can do is what we're doing - ignoring the victims by calling them `collateral damage' and not even trying to count the numbers of the dead. . . For that, we will not be forgiven."
Mortenson began to see the United States military in a far different light later on. In 2003 he published an article about CAI in Parade Magazine. As a result of this article, CAI began to receive a flood of donations. One of his staffers informed him that a disproportionate number of donations came from military communities. Later that same year he received a letter from an officer who had fought in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division. The officer wrote "CAI's projects provide a good alternative to the education offered in many of the radicalized madrassas from where the Taliban sprung forth . . . The Central Asia Institute is now my charity of choice." Mortenson goes on to write of an e-mail he received from then lieutenant colonel Christopher Kolenda in September, 2007. Kolenda wrote:
I am the Commander of Task Force Saber which serves the 190,000 people in northern Kunar and eastern Nuristan Provinces in Afghanistan. Our primary goal in this counterinsurgency is to provide hope for the good people of Afghanistan, particularly the children. Building schools is one of my top development priorities . . . The conflict here will not be won with bombs but with books and ideas. . . We have delivered a wealth of school supplies, but there is never enough. . . Reading Three Cups of Tea has inspired me even further to pursue the development of Afghan schools and education. I am not sure if the CAI can help these schools in any way. . .
Kolenda had delivered an indirect challenge to the CAI to come to his "humanitarian space" and build schools that would help ensure the "next generation grows up to be educated patriots," not "illiterate fighters." Mortenson and "the Dirty Dozen" could not resist the challenge. In the end, CAI's AFPAK staff devises a plan to build a chain of girls' schools through Taliban territory, to include one in Mullah Omar's home town of De Rawod.
Many NGOs may feel at this point that Mortenson and CAI have forsaken neutrality for the sake of convenience, but that is not the case. CAI takes no "blood money" from the United States government and relies on the goodwill of local Afghans and Pakistanis for its security, not armed escorts by United States or coalition military. If CAI has forsaken its neutrality, it has done so not for the sake of convenience, but for the sake of conscience. CAI realizes that it cannot morally remain neutral in a world where "men with Kalashnikovs . . . help to sustain the grotesque lie that flinging battery acid into the face of a girl who longs to study arithmetic is somehow in keeping with the teachings of the Koran." Read more ›