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.
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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.
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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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