U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, the last surviving brother of the late President John F. Kennedy, has sold the rights to his autobiography in a deal expected to earn him at least $8 million.
The rights to the veteran Massachusetts lawmaker's memoirs were acquired by an imprint of Hachette Book Group USA after a six-day auction. The book is scheduled to be published in 2010.
Much of the source material for the book will come from an oral history project Kennedy has been participating in with the University of Virginia since 2004.
He says he is fortunate to have grown up in an "extraordinary family," and hopes the book will contribute to a deeper understanding of many key U.S. events.
The 75-year-old Kennedy is the youngest of nine siblings that also included the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Ted Kennedy was first elected to the Senate in 1962 to serve out the term of President John Kennedy. He has become one of the Senate's leading liberal lawmakers, working on issues including health care, education and immigration.
But his political career has been marred by personal scandal, including a 1969 incident when he drove his car off a bridge on a Massachusetts island, killing his female passenger. The scandal scuttled his presidential hopes.
It has also been marred by the assassinations of his older brothers - President Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas, Texas in 1963, while Robert was killed in 1968 while running for the Democratic presidential nomination.