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.
So you believe profits should always go to the common? Are you a socialist?
You long for the good ole days when the military was loathed?
So even though they've been giving these out in this manner since Vietnam, they should broke tradition and skipped over Lynch?
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.
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.
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?
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.
How does getting rescued deem you qualified for being a hero?
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?
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?
You strike me as intellectually dishonest, stretching what others say, creating straw men, and quite willing to run when confronted or challenged specifically.
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?
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.
Well put.
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