Joe McGinniss
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joe McGinniss (born 9 December 1942) is an American author of true crime and non-fiction novels.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
McGinniss graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1964 and became a general assignment reporter at the Worcester Telegram in Worcester, Massachusetts. Within a year he left to become a sportswriter for The Philadelphia Bulletin. He then moved to the The Philadelphia Inquirer as a general interest columnist. McGinniss became an overnight success when his first book, The Selling of the President, landed on The New York Times bestseller list when he was 26 years old, making him the youngest living writer with that achievement. The book described the marketing of Richard Nixon during the 1968 presidential campaign.
After the success of his book in 1968, McGinniss left the Inquirer to write books full-time. He next wrote a novel, The Dream Team. It was followed by Heroes, and Going to Extremes, a nonfiction account of his year exploring Alaska.
In 1979 he became a writer-in-residence at the L.A. Herald Examiner. Next came the McGinniss trilogy of true crime books, Fatal Vision, Blind Faith and Cruel Doubt. All three books were made into TV miniseries. His 1983 account of the Jeffrey MacDonald murder case, Fatal Vision, was a best-seller. MacDonald sued McGinniss in 1984, alleging that McGinniss pretended to believe MacDonald innocent after he came to the conclusion that MacDonald was guilty, in order to continue MacDonald's cooperation with him. After a six-week civil trial that resulted in a hung jury, McGinniss's publisher's insurance company chose to settle out of court with MacDonald for an undisclosed amount. In her book The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcolm used the McGinniss-MacDonald trial to explore the problematic relationship between journalists and their subjects.
The Last Brother: The Rise and Fall of Teddy Kennedy (1993) brought McGinniss more controversy, primarily from writers sympathetic to the Kennedys. One prominent critic, Doris Kearns Goodwin, suggested that some of his writing came close to plagiarism, although this was never substantiated. (Goodwin herself subsequently suffered a plagiarism scandal over material used in her book The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys).[1][2][3][4]
In 1995, McGinniss sat through the O. J. Simpson trial, expecting to write a book about it, but he returned the $1 million advance after Simpson was acquitted, saying the trial had been "a farce." His next book, the critically acclaimed The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, followed the fortunes of an Italian soccer team from a tiny town during one dramatic season in the big leagues.
The Big Horse was published in (2004). In his most recent book, Never Enough, McGinniss returned to his study of the dark side of the American family with a nonfiction account of the murder of investment banker Robert Kissel by his wife Nancy in Hong Kong.
[edit] Sarah Palin book
In the 2009 McGinniss began writing about the rise of Alaska governor and Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. He published a controversial article, "Pipe Dreams," in the April 2009 issue of Conde Nast's now-defunct Portfolio[5] and in September he bid $60,101.01 on Ebay to dine with Palin. Cathy Maples of Huntsville, Alabama, won the Ebay auction with a $63,500 bid.[6][7]
McGinniss rented the house next door to Palin in Wasilla, Alaska for five months,[8][9] prompting Palin to warn him to stay away from her children.[10] McGinniss has refused to comment on the situation except to say the working title of his book is "Sarah Palin's Year of Living Dangerously."[11][12] In May he threatened an ABC news reporter with arrest for invasion of privacy and trespassing for knocking on the door of his rented Wasilla home.[13] The book is scheduled to be published by Broadway/Random House in 2011.[citation needed]
[edit] Works
- The Selling of the President (1969)
- The Dream Team (1972)
- Heroes (1976)
- Going to Extremes (1980)
- Fatal Vision (1983)
- Blind Faith (1989)
- Cruel Doubt (1991)
- The Last Brother: The Rise and Fall of Teddy Kennedy (1993)
- The Miracle of Castel di Sangro (1999), the story of Castel di Sangro Calcio.
- The Big Horse (2004)
- Never Enough (2007)
[edit] References
- ^ Appelo, Tim. “Whose Words Are They, Anyway?” Entertainment Weekly. July 30, 1993.
- ^ Kurtz, Howard, “McGinniss In the Line Of Fire Again; Kennedy Author Manchester Levels Plagiarism Charge,” Washington ‘’Post’’, July 19, 1993, p. B01
- ^ Keller, Julia, “Doris Kearns Goodwin: Truth takes more hits; The growing plagiarism file dishonors world's Daniel Pearls,” Chicago ‘’Tribune’’, February 25, 2002, p. 1
- ^ Telegraph Herald - NewsBank, “Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin under fire Plagiarism charges: The Pulitzer Prize-winning author has become the subject of panels she once sat on,” March 12, 2002; Page a8.
- ^ McGinniss, Joe. Pipe Dreams. Portfolio.com 17 March 2009.
- ^ Kates, Brian. Dinner with ex-Alaskan gov Sarah Palin goes for $63,500 on eBay. New York Daily News, September 18, 2009.
- ^ Woodham, Scott. “Palin Watch UPDATED: Going to extremes for a dinner with Palin,” Alaska Dispatch, News and Voices from the Last Frontier, September 18, 2009.
- ^ Joe the Neighbor – Palin Author Moves Next Door
- ^ Franke-Ruta, Garance. Palin's new neighbor turns out to be a legendary journalist. The Washington Post. 25 May 2010.
- ^ Barr, Andy. Palin: McGinniss 'disturbing'. Politico. 26 May 2010.
- ^ "Sarah Palin & Author Joe McGinniss - Howdy Neighbor". National Ledger. May 26, 2010. http://www.nationalledger.com/ledgerdc/article_272632014.shtml. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
- ^ Shafer, Jack. Joe McGinniss Gets Old-School With Sarah Palin. Slate. 26 May 2010.
- ^ [1]
