Steve McQueen: The Final Chapter

Ventura CA: Vision House. Very Good+ in Very Good+ dj. (c.1983). First Edition. [nice tight copy with no significant wear, one-time owner's name in red ink at upper left corner of front endpaper, a single sentence in the Foreword underlined in green ink, a touch of age-toning to edges of text block; the jacket is lightly rubbed with just minor wear and a couple of tiny tears along the top edge, a couple more short closed tears and an associated horizontal crease at the bottom of the rear panel, and a bit of wear at the spine ends]. (B&W photographs) The first McQueen book to appear after the actor's death in 1980, this religiously-inflected book tells "with complete candor the incredible story of the last year of McQueen's life, starting in 1979 with his escape from the fast-paced, artificial Hollywood scene to start a new, simpler life among the people and surroundings he loved, through his long and courageous bout against cancer." The author, by his account, only met McQueen in mid-1979, but became close to the actor and his last wife, Barbara Minty, over the last year or so of the actor's life. The book's Foreword is by Billy Graham, who refers to Ragsdale as "not only Steve McQueen's devoted, trusted friend but also his companion and confidant." (Graham also states that McQueen "had accepted Christ some weeks before he even knew he was sick," and that it was therefore not "a deathbed decision." One gets the very distinct impression that this was a book with an agenda.) .