Greg Mortensen, _Three Cups of Tea_ and _Stones Into Schools_

In these two non-fiction accounts, Greg Mortensen, head of the Central Asia Institute, documents how a failed mountaineering expedition serendipitously led to his life-changing grassroots mission to educate the impoverished girls of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and in doing so, promoting peace and stability in the region.  Although the pace of both books occasionally bogs down in blow-by-blow details and you'll undoubtedly find yourself reaching for a map to track the peripatetic wanderings of Mortensen and his energetic staff, the narratives are full of wonderful cross-cultural moments, at turns poignant, dramatic, and humorous.  Most importantly, Mortensen's work kindles the hope that idealistic individuals can indeed change the world for the better and go where governments and armies fail to tread, one relationship at a time.