It's a deal: Jessica Lynch agrees to $1 million deal with Knopf for book co-written b

[thedrifter]

It's a deal: Jessica Lynch agrees to $1 million deal with Knopf for book co-written by Bragg

By Hillel Italie
ASSOCIATED PRESS
6:58 a.m. September 2, 2003



NEW YORK – 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.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...ynch-book.html


Sempers,

Roger

[Devildogg4ever]

Have ya begin to notice that money can bring the memory back?? First the Clintons, now Lynch!

[MillRatUSMC]

Only in America could a lowly PFC get a half a million for a book.
What else might be brought out in this book?
That hasn't be written about how she was captured after the crash that knock her out.
The author of this book leave much to be desired;
"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".
Devildogg4ever, you got it right;
Money does bring back the memory!
And a half million will surely bring back a great deal of memory.
From a media creation to a book, next a movie.
We question;
What about all those other that served and are still serving in that country and Afghanistan?
Where a half million for each service person?
ONLY IN AMERICA!!!
Martha (Marthy) Jane Canary (Cannary) died broke.
That won't be Jessica Lynch fate.
ONLY IN AMERICA!!!
And Calamity Jane rated more medal than this lowly PFC.
ONLY IN AMERICA!!!

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo

[marine5]

I think she is worth every penny...and more !!!!
She did her job and got busted up...She never asked for any of
celebrity status that she received...The Army & the Press did it to
her...So don't go blaming her.
She was only a PVT not the General...just doing her job like any
Marine would do...she wasn't incharge of the convoy...
If certain things happened to her as happened to the Female Chopper
Driver that got shotdown in the First Gulf War and was told not to say anything about it...she is in for a Life Time of problems...
Oh...by the way the Chopper Driver...blew her brains out 3 months after she returned to the USA...because she was forbidden to speak about what happens to female soldiers when captured.
I really don't understand the animosity towards this Female Soldier?
She did her job to the best of her ability...she was an Army REMF not a hardcharging "MARINE GRUNT" !!!
The biggest FEAR that I had in two tours in Vietnam wasn't the
chance that I would be KIA or WIA but becoming a POW !!!!
I just THANK GOD that the Military has finally gotten the message
about how inportant it is to retrieve POW's....

SEMPER FI !!!

"Stay Low & Keep Moving" !!!!

[marine5]

PS: Some day I will learn to spel rite !!!!

[gapeach]

Jessica Lynch is a picture of today's views about women in combat. she is the first example to be made of a woman being a POW or wounded in combat. Many forget about the women that were POW's in Vietnam, or even the women that served proudly and died proudly beside their husbands during the Confedercy. My own experiences were hushed up by the military, i suffer today, but i feel like if i had been able to let the public know, then maybe i could have some kind of relief, but as Marine5 stated, we women must suffer in silence. Also the gal that was a POW for 14 days during the Gulf War, what happened to her? we will never know. Our POWs suffered more than those of us who weren't POWs will ever think about. I still have mixed emotions about Jessica Lynch, but at least her story is getting heard from her, and not in a history book. Semper Fi, my brothers and sisters