I can´t imagine. I remember the story. It was national news. And the details were only implied. I hope she makes some big $ out of this. You go girl!

And Elizabeth has a professional PR firm to write this article and distribuite it through PR Newswire in order to stir up anticipation for the book to come.

The real question is ... why is a book obligatory following a traumatizing event? Has this Nation really become so shallow and craven that it is expected that a book is de rigueur?"

What Smart is "not shying away from" is the massive cash advance and flow chart of potential income from flogging her terror into a sizable bank account.

#2, your comment strikes me as mean-spirited.

The rapist´s trial revealed the awful details of her ordeal to the public. Elizabeth Smart had no control, and lost her privacy.

You can bet books will be written by others -- to profit off of what happened to her.

So why shouldn´t Elizabeth take control of the rest of her life ... starting with writing her own story in her own way? She appears to be doing exactly that.

Whatever profit she makes, good for her, I wouldn´t begrudge her a penny. (And like most Mormons, she is likely to give a lot of the profit to charity.)

And one more thing: It would be sadly ironic if Elizabeth´s story turned out to be anecdotal evidence of the truth of Todd Akin´s comment about traumatic rape -- a comment I believe to be 100% correct, albeit clumsily stated by Akin.

As a young teenager, Smart endured outrageous trauma. Her father parlayed her story into a never-ending news sensation. Looks like Elizabeth wants to carry the tradition forward.

Lost in the repeated press releases is the fact that this horror started because Daddy picked up homeless dudes to come work on his home remodeling for discount, cash, off-the-books wages. One of them was a mentally-deranged pervert who became fascinated with little Elizabeth while nailing shingles around her bedroom window.

#2, I´m a Rancher. I know lots of ranchers. You´re no rancher.

Good for Elizabeth Smart. It appears she´s not going to live her life as a perpetual victim and getting on with her live.

More power to her. I hope she makes lots of money!

Hell of a story. We (the lusting public) were aware something "juicy" happened- now, slathering for the lurid details, the public will at long last be titillatingly satisfied and distracted for a few weeks.And Ms. E. Smart, being smart, will make a fortune. We just can´t wait for more of this pubic excitement. And, her resulting appearances on Oprah, Jerry, and the View will net even more millions. She truly is smart. The public, not so much. Her Dad really did her a favor hiring all those "homeless" men as day laborers.

10 years is probably too late for this. They waited too long and this is not going to be that big.

What type contraception? Exactly nine months?
Sorry, but people who have lived through this type hellish nightmare have vivid psychological scars that haunt them for life and are anything but bubbly wanting to write a story about it. Something doesn´t smell right with this one. A creepy dad that makes money off his child´s alleged abduction and enslavement is bizarre.
It´s also rather unique that the entire Utah law enforcement could not track down a male vagrant and 2 women in less than 9 months.

So what´s your point, Rumblehog?

It saddens me that she would revisit the salacious details of her captivity for money, and that someone that authored books with religious and patriotic themes would write it. I understand it´s easy money and she, of all people, should be the one to profit in the telling of her story. But it is a sad reflection of society that the public interest in another persons suffering is a vehicle to enrichment. I´m sure she would rather it had never happened.

Kinda sad that some folks have a derogatory view of someone who survived extraordinary trauma to go on to advocating for trauma victims.

Writing this book can help build her platform for future advocacy, which is what successful people do to build on past achievements. Bitterness toward successful people does nothing to build the bitter one´s house any more rooms, or warm it in the bitter winter cold.

If her father hired homeless people to help with house maintenance etc., how is that a character flaw? That one of them took his daughter is the fault of the kidnapper.

That the father kept the public aware of his daughter´s disappearance is also to his credit and might be what saved her, so the denigration of that energy is wildly misplaced.

Whew ...

I am surprised at the mixed emotions toward this now 25 year old woman and her extraordinary story. She survived a horrible situation, and by strength of character and faith has become a advocate for children who are abused. In the decade after her ordeal she has married and is completing a college degree. Are those who predicted she would end up in a mental institution now upset that the pretty little blonde victim has become a beautiful, well adjusted woman?

I have mixed feelings about this.

I remember when the story broke, Smart refused to answer basic questions. How were they able to kidnap her and keep it all a secret, even hiding just a few feet from the home? How could that have happened?

Some answers, right then and there--and not salacious material mind you--might have helped and create public awareness. Instead, it was all "leave us alone and don´t ask questions".

I guess things were answered in the trial, but I still don´t get how they pulled it off. Again, understanding exactly how someone could have been taken and hidden could act as preventative information for other families.

Now, seemingly when convenient, the book comes out.

Sorry, the whole thing just seems odd and controlled to me.

Speaking of blaming the victim, I remember very well the months when Elizabeth was missing and people on this site claimed the father probably had her married off into some Mormon polygamous community; that some uncle might have married her, etc. And now after the election we hear people claiming that no one refused to vote for Romney because he is a Mormon. Some prejudice may have been laid to rest, but not enough.

How is it a character flaw to dodge the law, hire someone under the table and bring a low life into your home just to save a few bucks? Putting your family at risk? Yes, it´s ultimately the kidnapper´s crime but it was only a matter of time with that dad.

As for the book, mixed feelings. I´m not going to judge her motives or her healing needs...but obviously a large part of the sales strategy will be to promise salacious details about a teen getting raped daily.

Yes, #16 , that is absolutely true. Some posters try to hide their hatred of the LDS Church, but their repeated postings when something Mormon comes up reveals them.

#18
if you lived among 98% LDS for any length of time and are not LDS you would have a whole different opinion of them... Just saying after 14 months its not pretty

I agree 100% with #2. Perhaps Ms. Smart is just looking for CLOSURE.

She survived, nothing more needs to be said. However she wants to deal with it is fine with me. We have had several long term kidnapping victims recovered in the past decade. The tendency of members of the public to doubt the choices they made to survive baffles me. Those who made other choices are dead, remember that!!

A lot of petty, stunted people here. I´m surprised. One crank wouldn´t be unusual, but to see nearly half the thread devoted to sneering and suspicion-mongering at another person´s trauma is really a shock. So now the law against criminals writing books and profiting from their crimes has got to be applied to the victims too? If this isn´t outright anti-Mormon hostility, it´s jealousy against someone being able to turn evil to good. When did "conservatism" come to mean "Just shut up and don´t force me to think about your problems"?

I am shocked by the nasty comments !
Elizabeth´s father is extremely wealthy in his OWN right..I understand hiring homeless out of CHARITY and goodness of the heart..rather than throwing a welfare check at the homeless, make them work!
The father´s fault may be that he was too trusting..I consider the book as an act of closure for Elizabeth, of suffering we can only imagine. I wish the entire family well.