Joe McGinniss was born on December 9, 1942. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1964 and worked as a newspaper journalist. He wrote several nonfiction books including The Selling of the President, Going to Extremes, Fatal Vision, The Miracle of Castel di Sangro and The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin. He also wrote a novel entitled The Dream Team and a memoir entitled Heroes. He died of prostate cancer on March 10, 2014 at the age of 71.