Joe McGinniss, Author Of 'Fatal Vision', Dies Of Prostate Cancer

Author Joe McGinniss, who chronicled the murder case of former Green Beret doctor Jeffrey MacDonald in the 1983 book "Fatal Vision," has died at the age of 71, his lawyer said Monday, according to the Associated Press.

McGinniss died Monday afternoon at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, after battling prostate cancer for two years, the AP reported.

McGinniss also wrote the 1969 bestseller "The Selling of the President 1968," a close look at the marketing and campaigning of presidential candidate Richard Nixon, according to the AP. He wrote 12 books in all, according to his website.

McGinniss had early dreams of becoming a sports reporter and wrote books about soccer, horse racing and travel but he was best known for two works that became touchstones as "campaign books:" "The Selling of the President" and true crime "Fatal Vision," the AP reported.

In both cases, he had become fascinated by the difference between public image and private reality, according to the AP.

In 2012, McGinniss, criticized by MacDonald supporters who said he betrayed the doctor, said that he embedded with the defense team because he thought it would be fascinating to see how the lawyers and accused handled a high-profile murder case, the AP reported.

MacDonald was convicted of stabbing his pregnant wife and two young daughters to death at their home on a North Carolina military base, according to the AP.

"I learned everything from the first time in court. I didn't have my mind made up," McGinniss argued at the time, the AP reported.

McGinniss also made news when he moved next door to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in 2010 and wrote "The Rogue," according to the AP.

Palin threatened to sue, saying the book was "a series of lies and rumors presented as fact," the AP reported.

According to publisher Simon & Schuster, McGinniss lived in Massachusetts with his wife, Nancy Doherty, an editor and writer, and had five children, including author Joe McGinniss Jr., according to the AP.