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Jessica Lynch agrees to $1M book deal
AP | 9/02/03 | HILLEL ITALIE

Posted on 09/02/2003 7:42:46 AM PDT by 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.



TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: armadillos; bitterness; bookdeal; classwarfare; communism; confiscation; envy; hecklers; heckling; iamasoldiertoo; jessicalynch; lynchbashing; lynchhaters; lynchhating; lynchphobia; marxism; redistribution; resentment; socialism
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To: BJungNan
Will she share it with those that rescued her? Would you?

So you believe profits should always go to the common? Are you a socialist?

81 posted on 09/03/2003 3:58:41 AM PDT by #3Fan
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To: Nam Vet
I have also felt uneasy, to say the least, about all this hoopla. I think back to the scores of wounded I saw in '67 and '68. They would have been happy JUST being decently welcomed home by Americans. Something strikes me as drastically out of kilter here.

You long for the good ole days when the military was loathed?

82 posted on 09/03/2003 3:59:47 AM PDT by #3Fan
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Comment #83 Removed by Moderator

To: Dante3
I don't blame her for getting the undeserved Bronze Star but, instead, the person whoever awared it.

So even though they've been giving these out in this manner since Vietnam, they should broke tradition and skipped over Lynch?

84 posted on 09/03/2003 4:05:14 AM PDT by #3Fan
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To: #3Fan
LOL!

That the problem -- if misused awards become meaningless. My daughter worked hard to get in the National Hornor Society -- made sure she met qaulification for all requirements. Then we saw that those who failed to meet them could into NHS by suing.

85 posted on 09/03/2003 4:11:00 AM PDT by Dante3
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To: djf
And if it is right, which I hope it is, God help her to find some sensitive, unselfishly loving people in America. Sounds like she won;t find many at FreeRepublic.com
86 posted on 09/03/2003 4:11:41 AM PDT by djf
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To: Mears
Our Esteemed Media made a bundle from her story – it’s about time she profited on her own. If she didn’t go for the deal, some media type would have compiled interviews, news stories, added a lot of fantasy and BS and made the money.
This way we get to learn her story from her.
87 posted on 09/03/2003 4:16:14 AM PDT by R. Scott
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To: kattracks
I thought she couldn’t remember anything?
88 posted on 09/03/2003 4:17:24 AM PDT by bimbo
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To: bimbo
Neither could hillary! and she got 8 million for her book.
89 posted on 09/03/2003 4:19:25 AM PDT by kattracks
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To: djf
God help her to find some sensitive, unselfishly loving people in America. Sounds like she won;t find many at FreeRepublic.com

That's a little over the top, don't ya think? There were hundreds of prayers offered by "freepers" for her safe return.

I've read the posts on this thread and some raise interesting questions, even if contrary to your opinion.

The media "made" Jessica--in large part because she's a young, attractive blond woman. And, now she's cashing in on it. Good for her. But, please don't turn her decision into something glorious or beyond question.

Thanks.

90 posted on 09/03/2003 4:34:00 AM PDT by Right_in_Virginia
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To: Dante3
LOL! That the problem -- if misused awards become meaningless. My daughter worked hard to get in the National Hornor Society -- made sure she met qaulification for all requirements. Then we saw that those who failed to meet them could into NHS by suing.

So you wouldn't have been offended that when they got to your daughter they went to a 1960 standard, and then went back to a 2003 standard right after your daughter and she got left out?

91 posted on 09/03/2003 5:03:32 AM PDT by #3Fan
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To: Right_in_Virginia
That's a little over the top, don't ya think? There were hundreds of prayers offered by "freepers" for her safe return.

And now she's the poster child of every freeper with a two-bit agenda dealing with feminism, medal awardship, females in the military, the media, the military heirarchy, cuteness envy, book sellers. I think every freeper but about ten of us has a reason to dislike her. She's become everything to everybody with an axe to grind for whatever reason.

I've read the posts on this thread and some raise interesting questions, even if contrary to your opinion. The media "made" Jessica--in large part because she's a young, attractive blond woman. And, now she's cashing in on it. Good for her. But, please don't turn her decision into something glorious or beyond question.

I don't think you have to worry about anyone not questioning her. She's the only one that is questioned. Everyone else gets a free pass. No one is questioning Franks for his book for instance. No one is calling him a whore saying he should donate all his profits to the soldiers who fought under him and saying his book drips with blood. You guys are way over the top and you sound like Democrats with your runaway jealousy.

92 posted on 09/03/2003 5:13:49 AM PDT by #3Fan
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To: exit82
No, I agree, they make a wrong turn, she gets captured, rescued and she's the hero? What about the special ops guys that rescued her? They're the heroes. Isn't Superman the hero not Lois Lane?

How does getting rescued deem you qualified for being a hero?

93 posted on 09/03/2003 5:31:21 AM PDT by Barney Gumble (Liberals don't want you to have guns, but they don't care if a murdering despot has nerve gas)
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To: HairOfTheDog
".... the story of one person and the circumstances that drew the eyes of an entire nation for a few moments. Like Lisa Beamer. "

Like Lisa Beamer. What was the hoopla with her too? She would be introduced and she would get standing ovations. She was just married to the guy? What did she do? They should be appaulding her husband, not her?

94 posted on 09/03/2003 5:39:55 AM PDT by Barney Gumble (Liberals don't want you to have guns, but they don't care if a murdering despot has nerve gas)
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To: #3Fan
Another "you've been out of America too long"-type! LOL! Zot!

It is a wonder you have any indication as to where I am or how long I had worked overseas?

And, what's your global experience, hmm?

Couple a trips to the International House of Pancakes?

95 posted on 09/03/2003 6:42:47 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (Saddam Had No Taepodong-II nuke ICBMs capable of hitting the World's Largest & 2nd Largest Economies)
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To: #3Fan
Re your #77, indeed, you put words in my mouth, things I did not say. And further, you made no substantive response to my objection/clarification to your original comments.

You strike me as intellectually dishonest, stretching what others say, creating straw men, and quite willing to run when confronted or challenged specifically.

96 posted on 09/03/2003 6:47:34 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (Saddam Had No Taepodong-II nuke ICBMs capable of hitting the World's Largest & 2nd Largest Economies)
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To: #3Fan
"Greed? Comrade? Donate all profits to the common good?"

From each according to their ability to each according to their need, didn't ya know? Karl Marx would be proud of these freepers, wouldn't he?

97 posted on 09/03/2003 6:51:01 AM PDT by milemark
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To: #3Fan
You are quite young, right?
98 posted on 09/03/2003 6:52:42 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (Saddam Had No Taepodong-II nuke ICBMs capable of hitting the World's Largest & 2nd Largest Economies)
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To: milemark
No.

Ronald Reagan would be proud of them.

For asserting that, like WWI's Corporal Treptoe quoted in his First Inaugural in 1981, service to country, not selfishness & making a quick buck for ones ownself is what makes a true American Heroe. I and many others stand by our principles and hope the former Pvt. does the honorable and admirable thing.

Please don't, like #3, foolishly attempt cloud the central issue here with Marxist rhetoric. Not germain.

99 posted on 09/03/2003 6:57:37 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (Saddam Had No Taepodong-II nuke ICBMs capable of hitting the World's Largest & 2nd Largest Economies)
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To: #3Fan
And now she's the poster child of every freeper with a two-bit agenda dealing with feminism, medal awardship, females in the military, the media, the military heirarchy, cuteness envy, book sellers. I think every freeper but about ten of us has a reason to dislike her. She's become everything to everybody with an axe to grind for whatever reason.

Well put.

100 posted on 09/03/2003 7:05:44 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog (20 days to go..... And whither then? I cannot say)
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