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.

[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

[AmericanInTokyo]

Interesting deductions you have made.

[Silas]

A young girl who uses her body/looks to stay alive is one thing. That is understandable and a tragedy.

But to then sell out for $1 million? I stand by my statement. Whore.

[HairOfTheDog]

If you think the highlight of her life is that she was raped and tortured and can now score again, I stand by my statement. Disgusting.

The other heros you find more worthy she also mourns. They were her friends, not yours.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

So she gets one million for writting a book about things she doesn't remember happening. I thought the going rate for one of those books was eight million.

[Silas]

If you think the highlight of her life is that she was raped and tortured and can now score again, I stand by my statement.

Why are you trying to put statements in my mouth? I never said it was the highlight of her life or anything like that. I said it was a tragedy. You seem to have some sort of agenda.

We must separate what happened on the battlefield, which she had no control over, and what she is doing now.

[HairOfTheDog]

And there is nothing ~at all~ improper about her coming home and writing a book. Many others have done the same. The stories of the survivors tell the story for those who did not make it. Don't make it sinister. It isn't.

[Marie Antoinette]

I'm with you, I find many of the comments disgusting. Thanks for standing up, I'm usually "outta there" PDQ on these threads.

Count me in the "Happy for Jessica" camp.

[HairOfTheDog]

Count me in the "Happy for Jessica" camp.

Good! - Glad to see it.

At least there are some who remember that she is on ~our~ side.

[cincinnati65]

The only way that I can reconcile your characterization, is if she were thinking about how she was going to profit from her torture as it was occurring. Profiting from it after the fact is making lemonade out of lemons. Not exactly seemly, but not quite at the level you describe.

[cincinnati65]

Sorry, that should have been directed toward Silas.