Jessica Lynch agrees to $1M book deal

AP | 9/02/03 | HILLEL ITALIE

[kattracks]

NEW YORK (AP) — Jessica Lynch, the former prisoner of war whose capture and rescue from an Iraqi hospital made her a national hero, has agreed to a $1 million book deal with publisher Alfred A. Knopf.

"Many folks have written, expressing their support for me and for the thousands of other soldiers who serve their country," Lynch said in a statement issued Tuesday by Knopf.

"I feel I owe them all this story, which will be about more than a girl going off to war and fighting alongside her fellow soldiers. It will be a story about growing up in America."

"I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story," co-written by Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg, is scheduled to come out in mid-November with a first printing of around 500,000 copies, Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards said.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but a source close to the negotiations said Lynch and Bragg will divide a $1 million advance. The source spoke on condition of anonymity.

"I feel a kinship with Jessica and her family, and am thrilled at the prospect of bringing this story to the wider world," Bragg said in the statement issued by Knopf. He has been granted exclusive access to Lynch and her family.

Lynch received a medical discharge last week from the Army, making her eligible to pursue book or movie deals.

Lynch, 20, suffered multiple broken bones and other injuries when her 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on March 23.

Her rescue on April 1 made her a celebrity. She joined the Army to get an education and become a kindergarten teacher.

She returned home to Palestine, W.Va., in July to a hero's welcome after a long stay at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

"I am feeling better every day, and all the good wishes of the many who have written have certainly kept my spirits up," Lynch said. "I am walking with crutches, but my doctors tell me that as I gain strength I will be able to walk on my own again soon. I am looking forward to those first steps."

Bragg has written several books, including the memoir "All Over but the Shoutin'," and won the feature-writing Pulitzer in 1996, two years after he began working for The New York Times. He resigned from the Times in May after the newspaper suspended him over a story that carried his byline but was reported largely by a freelancer.

[Huck]

1 million? She needs a new agent.

[stevem]

Part of me hopes this story isn't right. It just seems a little unsavory.

[Focault's Pendulum]

Playboy photo spread to follow.

[dead]

She took a few hits for the home team, and could use the dough.

I don't begrudge her deal. I wish more wounded soldiers could get the same.

[ImpBill]

Good for her. About time we were privy to the reflections of a Private instead of all the Field Grades raking in the bucks.

[11th Earl of Mar]

co-written by Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg... He resigned from the [New York] Times in May after the newspaper suspended him over a story that carried his byline but was reported largely by a freelancer.

Now I'm confident that the real Jessica Lynch story will come out.

[Mears]

I think it's disgusting. I hope she's planning on sharing the money with all the others in her group who were captured with her.

Who says being tiny,cute,and blond doesn't count? What a country!

[exit82]

I would really like to know her whole story. Albeit she was a survivor of enemy action with wounds, but I'm still not sure why she is a decorated heroine.

I don't begrudge her what she has endured, I just don't know why she got medals and an early discharge for suffering less than what many WWII and Vietnam vets suffered.

There have been so many conflicting stories about what happened that day. No one has verified whether she was tortured or raped in captivity. So, why the celebrity status? Did she save others? Did she risk her life to protect others? I just don't see a factual story on what happened.

She was in a firefight. I don't know that she fired a shot.I don't know what she endured. Yet, she has been swept up in a cinderella type story about being a heroine, and I just am unable to recite the facts to back it up.

Perhaps I am alone in thinking this way.No offense intended to any vets out there. I just would like to know what really happened.

[kenth]

Yep. All have stories that should be told.

Unfortunately, the others aren't petite and blonde.

[cincinnati65]

Let's see -- Eight Jessica Lynch's to equal One Hillary.....this is a screwed up world.

[afz400]

"1 million? She needs a new agent."
Pretty good payment for keeping quiet about what REALLY happened.

[kellynla]

I wonder how much of that million Lynch will give the family of David Tapper, one of the SEAL team members responsible for her rescue who was killed in Afghanistan. A Bronze Star and a million bucks for what? A private who got captured because of incompetence??? And how many Special Forces and Marine Corps personnel's lives were endangered rescuing her and her fellow unit members because of their screw up? Giving her a Bronze Star was laughable and an insult to all who have received the medal for their bravery in combat. She and her fellow unit members should have received a Bronze Dunce Cap!

[BigBobber]

This whole incident smells to me. First we're told "...she may never remember what happened. No questions about what happened."

Now she's going to talk for a share in a million bucks.

What about the real heroes in Iraq who didn't make it home alive? I won't be buying her book.

[cherry]

and she comes from people of very little money if the looks of their house before retrofitting means anything.....

gee.....somebody poor, white, and a veteran getting a little dough .......that doesn't happen everyday....

I am glad for her.....

[Huck]

1 mil wouldn't do it for me. I would think this would sell for more. She needs Scott Boras.

[BluH2o]

And how many Special Forces and Marine Corps personnel's lives were endangered rescuing her and her fellow unit members because of their screw up?

One of the rescue helicopters on the mission clipped a guy wire supporting a radio antenna as it was preparing to land at the hospital. Had the guy wire not snapped it would have taken the helicopter down ... probably costing the lives of the 10 to 12 service men on board.

[LetsRok]

"1 million? She needs a new agent." Pretty good payment for keeping quiet about what REALLY happened.

If her story is longer than 1 paragraph then she will have major credibility problems. THe truth is:
1. Jessica was riding in a hummer
2. The hummer crashed while trying to escape the enemy.
3. Jessica was knocked unconscious during the crash.
4. Jessica woke up in an Iraqi hospital.
5. Jessica was rescued.
6. End of story.

No heroim. No act of bravery. Just a scared girl being rescued by real fighting men.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Would any FReepers join me in signing a petition to be delivered to Lynch in Palestine, W. Virginia, that all of the profits of her book (except some expenses to cover her own costs) go to: the families of those battle slain in her Army Maintenance Division, such as trust funds or scholarships for those left behind?

In my book this young woman has the best chance now to show she is a REAL AMERICAN HERO, not greedy.

But if she just profiteers from it, selfishly, then I would say, she is no HERO in my book. I would still like to think the (former) Pvt. would take the Road Less Traveled.

[BlackbirdSST]

"Many folks have written, expressing their support for me and for the thousands of other soldiers who serve their country," Lynch said in a statement issued Tuesday by Knopf.

"I feel I owe them all this story, which will be about more than a girl going off to war and fighting alongside her fellow soldiers. It will be a story about growing up in America."

Nothing here that couldn't be settled with a one paragraph letter to the Editor! Suddenly though, she remember's! Ka'ching! Blackbird.