There are stories within stories, whispered in the quiet of the night, shouted above the roar of the day, and played out between lovers and enemies, strangers and friends.   But all, all are fragile things made of just 26 letters arranged and rearranged to form tales and imaginings which will dazzle your senses, haunt your imagination and move you to the very depths of your soul."

Thrilling... proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world - Tom Brokaw

Here (in Pakistan and Afghanistan), we drink three cups of tea to do business; the first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third, you join our family, and for our family we are prepared to do anything--even die. - Haji Ali, Korphe Village Chief, Karakoram Mountains, Pakistan

The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his remarkable humanitarian campaign in the Taliban's backyard

In 1993, a mountaineer named Greg Mortenson drifted into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram mountains after a failed attempt to climb K2.   Moved by the inhabitants' kindness, he promised to return and build a school.   Three Cups of Tea is the story of that promise and its extraordinary outcome.   Over the next decade Mortenson built not just one but fifty-five schools--especially for girls--in the forbidding terrain that gave birth to the Taliban.   His story is at once a riveting adventure and a testament to the power of the humanitarian spirit."