Joe McGinniss, Inky Columnist-Turned-Controversial Author, Dead at 71

Wrote lauded books on crime and politics.

The Daily News reports: “JOE McGINNISS, who went from controversial stints at the old Evening Bulletin and the Inquirer to best-sellerdom as a writer of blistering books, died yesterday in Worcester, Mass., of prostate cancer at age 71. McGinniss wrote hard-hitting books on many subjects, from Richard Nixon (The Selling of the President 1968) to Sarah Palin (The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin). The Palin book led him to move in next door to her Alaska home for several months. As a sports reporter for the Bulletin, he so angered Wilt Chamberlain with columns about his lousy foul shooting and other criticisms that Wilt shoved him into a locker at Convention Hall along with the late Daily News sportswriter Bill Conlin, who had tried to protect McGinniss.”