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.

[joesnuffy]

If she wants to divide the procees between her and Bragg
she should be given em the go fast boys at Fort Bragg
who saved her young bacon

[Sam Cree]

It's true, information did stop flowing about her, strange, perhaps provocative, how the story died kind of suddenly.

However, whatever the true story may be, I don't mind her getting the money, heroine or not, she went through alot, and it harms no one if something nice happens to the lady.

Hope she'll get some good investment advice, if she needs it.

[YaYa123]

I don't begrudge this young woman the right to tell her own life story, and be paid for doing so. Even if Lynch hadn't suffered horrific fear, pain, near death, and permanent, life altering injuries, she represents hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of America's finest young people. Those who volunteer to serve in the military.

I think her story is important.

[HairOfTheDog]

Greedy?

Yeeeesh. No, I will not sign a petition of any kind telling someone else how to spend their money.

She has a legitimate right to recieve $$$ for a story that people will want to buy.... myself included.

[AmericanInTokyo]

if you are not going to sign it, I guess my comments were not directed to you, then?

[HairOfTheDog]

Your comments asked for FReepers to comment. They are.

Treating her with the respect any American, patriot, and soldier deserves shouldn't be that hard. It pisses me off that I am a minority on this forum and this thread, but at least I am here.

[Ciexyz]

If she makes some inspirational comments in her book, says she prayed to God etc., then I'll buy the book and donate it to my church library.

[AmericanInTokyo]

I conditioned my comment about her, if you had not noticed. I said if she were greedy and forgot her comrades when there is money to be made, she would have a lower opinion in my book. If she cares about them and donates the proceedings...? Fine. She is a hero in my book then.

[Sam Cree]

"No, I will not sign a petition of any kind telling someone else how to spend their money."

Exactly. I bet the soldiers whom are meant to recieve the benefits that such a petition demands would also refuse to sign it.

[Ciexyz]

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

Give her a break. The reason is: she's a woman. Because she's the first woman to suffer such extensive injuries in combat, and then to survive capture...it's news.

[AmericanInTokyo]

The soldiers who would get the benefit would not sign the petition, I can guarantee it.

Because they are dead.

I said, she should NOT be a typical, 21st Centure, Greedy American, but instead give the proceeds to the families of her comrades who were slain.

[HairOfTheDog]

Apparently, now having a story people want to pay money to read makes one greedy.

I am sure our friend demands a say in how everyone who recieves money for a book spends it, and he isn't singling her out at all....

Her life has changed from what she thought it was gonna be. I was pleased to read that her engagement is going forward, and I wish her the best.

[bluejean]

"Pretty good payment for keeping quiet about what REALLY happened."

Yep - and don't expect it to come out in her book, either. She supposedly doesn't remember much about what happened. I suspect it will be long on 'Growing up in America' and short on what we'd all really like to know.

I wager the 'mystery' of Jessica Lynch will prove to have been much more fascinating than the 'revealed' Lynch - at least in book form. I think she was silenced, and she's not going to start blabbing. All of that 'protection' and so on after her rescue, and her trip home - too bizarre by half.

I don't begrudge her the money, either. No doubt she DID go through hell, and if some fools want to pay her to describe it AGAIN, more power to her! I DO wish her well. She didn't ask to be the famous Jessica Lynch. She was just a young woman in the military before all heck broke loose.

[Silas]

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.

Yeah right. More like she was tortured and raped. Her life was spared because she was good looking. The dudes and unattractive women were killed.

This book is dripping with the blood of all soldiers who sacrificed. It is disgusting and takes whoredom to an entirely new level.

[HairOfTheDog]

Whore? No - your attitude is disgusting.

[spodefly]

To those making the DU-style jealousy and cynicism comments on this thread ("good thing she is a petite blond") -- get therapy ... You need it. Through no manipulation or deceit on her part, her story is worth something to book publishers ... good for her.

Meanwhile, in the 'nothing is fair in life' category, Tim and Susan Sarandon and other Hollyweird leftists handed several million over to ANSWER and the DNC. You want to bitch about something that is manipulative and damaging, bitch about that.

[HairOfTheDog]

good for her.

Indeed!

[Wordsmith]

It pisses me off that I am a minority on this forum and this thread, but at least I am here.

You've got people in your corner!

[Sam Cree]

Sorry, I stand corrected, your petition is for the families of those slain in the battle.

I also doubt that the families will sign the petition. And I would hope that most of our fighting men would not approve of this attempt at coercing a member of the armed forces in how to spend her windfall.

"she should NOT be a typical, 21st Century, Greedy American"

That characterization sounds strangely like it came from any number of socialist outfits.

[HairOfTheDog]

Glad to hear it! :~D