Dr. Thomas R. Hargrove 

A Year in the Valley of the Shadow
The true story that inspired the movie Proof of Life

About Dr. Thomas R. Hargrove
The ordeal of Tom and and Susan Hargrove inspired the Warner Bros movie Proof of Life, starring Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe, David Morse, and David Caruso. 

Tom, a native Texan, was kidnapped by Colombian narco-guerillas of FARC - The Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia, the main terrorist and drug group in Latin America - at a roadblock on his way to work, and held hostage in the Andes for 11 months. He kept, and smuggled out, a secret diary that became the book Long March to Freedom - which inspired the movie - Proof of Life. The Vietnam veteran was was kept in chains, under incredibly harsh conditions while his wife Susan, with professional kidnap negotiators, barter for his freedom. 

Kidnapping is a huge industry, especially in Latin America, but the press seldom reports it. Most of the hostage negotiation process itself is kept secret.

Speaking:

Mr. Hargrove has only now become available for public speaking, although he has spoken, for the past 5 years, on kidnapping, survival, and terrorism for the military, security firms, K&R (kidnap and ransom), insurance underwriters, and government agencies. Tom Hargrove is one of the few victims who will talk about the experience, and explain the K&R industry, from the inside. He holds the title of "Adjunct Professor of Dynamics of International Terrorism" with the U.S. Joint Services Special Operations University and USAF Special Operations School, where he speaks at about 20 courses a year.

Hargrove has also testified on kidnapping, drugs, and Colombian narco-guerillas before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on International Relations. Tom and Susan have been featured on CBS's 60 Minutes (with Mike Wallace), Vanity Fair, Discovery Channel, Fox Files, ABC's 20/20, and 48 Hours.  

But speaking about kidnapping isn't Hargrove's profession. He is an international agricultural communication specialist who became involved in rice as an Army lieutenant during the Vietnam War. He was active in the Green Revolution for the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines, for 19 years. He then joined the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, also started by the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, based in Colombia.

In 1997, Hargrove became the first honoree in Texas A&M's new Journalism Hall of Honor. In 1988, Hargrove received the ACE Professional Award, the highest award for a single agricultural journalist by Agricultural Communicators in Education. Tom has authored hundreds of feature articles and scripts, more than 30 research papers, and three books, including A Dragon Lives Forever. Long March to Freedom and War and Rice in Vietnam's Mekong Delta.

Hargrove holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from Iowa State University. His B.S. degree is a double degree in agricultural science and journalism from Texas A&M.

Long March to Freedom: Tom Hargrove's Own Story of His Kidnapping by Colombian Narco-Guerrillas 
by Thomas R. Hargrove

This book is the diary kept by Thomas Hargrove during his 300+ days in captivity after being kidnapped by Guerrillas in Columbia which inspired the book and movie. Proof of Life. This book gives the reader a sense of what it is like to be kidnapped and held against your will.

Proof of Life by David Robbins and William W. Prochnau

A novelization based on the Warner Bros. feature film, starring Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe, and David Caruso. Based on actual events, the film revolves around a high-level executive who is kidnapped by a terrorist faction and held for ransom. The executive's wife (Ryan) hires a specialist organization led by a rugged hostage negotiator (Crowe) to broker the executive's release. Complications arise, giving way to romantic feelings between the negotiator and the executive's wife, further mired by the commitment each has to the kidnapped executive. The novelization will also include two excerpts from the nonfiction sources upon which the movie was based: William Prochnau's "Adventure in the Ransom Trade" and Thomas Hargrove's Long March to Freedom

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