Unabomber Gets Book Deal to Tell His Story

Unabomber Theodore J. Kaczynski has landed a book deal to tell his story and will give the proceeds to his victims’ families, the publisher said Thursday.

“Truth Versus Lies” will be “an attempt to tell the other side of a one-sided tale that was spun by his family and his attorneys in their attempt to save him from the death penalty,” said Beau Friedlander, publisher of Context Media.

Kaczynski is serving a life sentence for 16 bomb attacks that killed three people and wounded 29. He pleaded guilty last year in Sacramento to avoid the death penalty.

As part of that deal, he also agreed to turn over any future earnings to the victims’ families.

After Kaczynski tried unsuccessfully last year to pitch a book to more established New York publishers, including Simon & Schuster, Friedlander wrote to the former mathematics professor in prison and expressed interest in publishing the book. He said he received a 548-page manuscript from Kaczynski last fall and plans to publish the book in late May or June.

Kaczynski previously wrote a 35,000-word anti-technology manifesto that was published by the Washington Post and the New York Times in 1995. His brother, David, noticed similarities to Kaczynski’s writings and alerted authorities.

Friedlander said Kaczynski “is earnest about discovering his brother’s true motivations for turning him over to the FBI. Kaczynski spares no details, even when they show him in a less favorable light.”