Books Reviews
Steve McQueen: Portrait of an American Rebel
Sergeant Presley
Ken Norton: Going the Distance
Ernie Shavers: Welcome to the Big Time
Maravich
Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business
Steve McQueen: The Last Mile
“Extensive interviews with those who knew and worked with the star... Through it all, McQueen emerges as a compulsive, insecure, fiercely driven man whose competitive nature was always on view... a life as colorful as many movies.”
Chicago Tribune
“Sifting through a mountain of interviews with McQueen's friends and co-workers, Terrill charts the actor's progress, presenting a complete description of the making of such films as The Great Escape, Bullitt and Sam Peckinpah's The Getaway... Terrill doesn't hold back.”
Washington Post Book World
“His story is fascinating – a kid who had nothing, got everything, and spent the rest of his life worrying that somebody would take it away... The account of his last days is harrowing.”
Cosmopolitan magazine
“Well-researched life of film actor Steve McQueen (1930-1980), who packed two or three lives into his 50 years.”
Kirkus Reviews
“Well-documented... balanced... Terrill is a welcome and serious biographer.”
Tulsa World
“Well told and documented with a dynamic feel for the paradox behind a gentle yet savage man... the reporter is so solid that accounts of McQueen's meeting with Ali MacGraw on the set of The Getaway, his emotional breakdown after the failure of An Enemy of the People, and his last pained words (revealing a new spirituality) ring with a potent authenticity.”
Films in Review
“The definitive McQueen biography.”
The Hollywood Reporter
“Vivid first-hand account of Steve McQueen's extraordinary story.”
New York Post
“Excellent and comprehensively written... keeps us on the edge of our seats... an unforgettable portrait.”
Gannett Westchester News
Raves for Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis' Missing Years:
“While many remembrances of Elvis will focus on his public life, a couple in Tennessee have private visions of a man who interrupted his exploding career to serve his country. Rex and Elisabeth Mansfield were with Elvis for much of the two years he spent in the Army, one of the least known periods of the ultimate rock star's life.”
The Arizona Republic
“Fair and honest account of Elvis' two “missing” years as a U.S. Soldier. Sometimes amusing, sometimes disturbing, almost always fascinating.”
Elvis in Print
“The book brings readers close to the “real” Elvis – the complex child within the man who craved acceptance and attention and often gave so much of himself that it left him empty.”
Martin Weekly County News
“The Mansfields are semi-legendary among Elvis fans: Elisabeth broke away from Presley to marry Rex after a secret whirlwind romance.”
The Miami Herald
“For Elvis fans, this book is a must.”
Elvis News.com
“Rex Mansfield was a friend and fellow soldier; Elisabeth Stefaniak a former secretary and Elvis girlfriend. The Mansfields give their take on the drugs, Priscilla Presley, life on an Army base in Germany and some previously unpublished photos.”
Reno Gazette Journal
“In a fascinating book called Sergeant Presley, written with Marshall and Zoe Terrill, Rex and Elisabeth talk about how difficult it was to break away from The King. But they worked through it and have been married more than 40 years.”
Toronto Sun
“Sergeant Presley is the fascinating tale of Elvis Presley's two years in the army, told by Rex and Elisabeth Mansfield. The book's soul is the growing romance between Mansfield and a young girl infatuated with Presley. The chatty, easy-to-read book is really their love story, no small feat given the giant shadow that Presley casts even 25 years after his death.”
Stars and Stripes
Raves for Ken Norton: Going the Distance:
“Written by Ken Norton in collaboration with best-selling author Marshall Terrill, Going the Distance chronicles Norton's life from his rambunctious childhood roots, to the present day. Written in a simple, readable style, the book relies not only on the words of Norton but on the testimonials of friends, fighters, and family members to help paint a convincing detailed picture of a fighter, in and out of the ring.”
Slam! Sports
“Muhammad Ali has gone down as arguably the best boxer in history, but Ken Norton also had a storied career in the 1970s, and has written an excellent book called Going the Distance that both details his boxing career and his life.
Vallejo Times-Herald
“This book is an honest telling of his life and should appeal to Norton's fans and to large sports collectors.”
Library Journal
“The book on Norton: he took Ali to the max.”
San Diego Union-Tribune
“In his first book, which has a foreword by Joe Frazier, Norton presents a continuing thread of being given considerable natural gifts, becoming self-motivated through times of trial although confessing that he never fully used his talents, learning from his adversity and becoming stronger in his faith.”
The State Journal-Register
“Ken Norton was a major player in the golden age of heavyweight fighters in the 1970s and all the personalities of the sport at the time literally jump to life off the pages of the book. There is never a dull moment or a slow spot, the book is absorbing all the way.
Boxing USA
Raves for Earnie Shavers: Welcome to the Big Time:
“Former heavyweight contender Earnie Shavers pulls no punches in this tell-all autobiography.”
ESPN – The Magazine
“The quick review: it's a terrific read. Any boxing fan will love all the inside dirt Shavers dishes out about the way the boxing business works... You won't need Evelyn Wood to find yourself at the end of the book before you know it.”
Boxing.com
“For anyone who enjoyed Shavers or just watching his in the ring, the memories in this book should be worth the time to look into.”
The (Warren) Vindicator
“The book pulls no punches in Shavers' descriptions of the fight game, his failures as a husband and is early preoccupation with those on the wrong side of the law.”
Fight News.com
“His autobiography may not knock you out, but its clarity and honesty will stun you. This 245-page hardcover book is a refreshing surprise. He simply tells his story, and it is a good one.”
Los Angeles Times
“Welcome to the Big Time is an absorbing and informative work that should satisfy most readers.”
Boxing Monthly
Raves for Maravich:
“The definitive biography of Pistol Pete Maravich.”
ESPN
“Spectacular. A great new book written by Wayne Federman and Marshall Terrill in collaboration with Jackie Maravich. An incredible read. Outstanding research on Pete Maravich and his life.”
Bill Walton, NBA Hall of Famer
“It’s essential for Maravich completists, especially for the reassessment of his pro career and for anecdotal feats of basketball wizardry, like his delivering on a boast to hit 100 jumpers from beyond 25 feet without missing two in a row. It also contains the single most convincing statistical refutation of the charge that Maravich was a selfish gunner: in the NBA, when he scored more than 40 points, his team won 82 percent of its games, compared with Jordan’s 69 percent and Allen Iverson’s 68.”
The New York Times Book Review
“It examines Maravich’s life more comprehensively (better research, better detail, tons of pictures).”
ESPN The Magazine
“Some of the details of Maravich's unlikely life - a tyrannical father; a suicidal mother; a conviction that the nation's food producers, drug merchants, and doctors were all in league against us; and, of course, the aforementioned voice - a novelist couldn't invent without blushing, but that's part of what makes this biography of one of basketball's most brilliant and ill-fated stars so compelling.”
The Boston Globe
“Thanks to a sublime effort by authors Wayne Federman and Marshall Terrill, the story of "Pistol" Pete Maravich is offered up to a whole new generation of basketball fans. It is, simply, the definitive work on one of the greatest players the sport has ever known. MARAVICH, published by Sport Classic Books, is a masterpiece. It takes a near mythical figure and makes him real all over again, and in the process makes us care about the man whose talents were alternately - some would say simultaneously - a gift and a curse. It also explores the incredible relationship between Maravich and his father, Press.”
Celtic Nation
Praise for Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business:
“And though Sonny West is not shy about expressing strong opinions, Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business is largely a positive look back.”
Goldmine
“West and Terrill set the record straight on various claims... this volume may contain the best account of the night the Fab Four met the King... As we prepare to observe the 30th anniversary of Presley's death on Aug. 16, West's excellent book serves as an affirmation that regardless of the singer's troubled life, he left behind an enduring legacy that will thrill and fascinate music fans for years to come.”
Shreveport Times
“West speaks so fondly of the legend it appears to be true love and not just mining for gold that drove him to pen the new book, Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business.”
Metro Spirit (Augusta, Ga.)
“Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business is an interesting and often provocative addition to the canon of Memphis Mafia literature.”
Memphis Commercial Appeal
“Writing with co-author Marshall Terrill, Sonny West allows the reader to see how the pressures of fame and drug use caused an ever-widening emotional distance between Presley, his family and his friends.”
The Tennessean
Raves for Steve McQueen: The Last Mile:
“In 1980 'The King of Cool' was given six months to live. He was just 50. His widow's untold story is beautifully chronicled in a new picture book called Steve McQueen: The Last Mile.”
The Sunday London Times Magazine
“Barbara and Steve McQueen rocked. The were gorgeous and cool and shared a love of the West, of riding motorcycles, drinking beer in their rocking chairs on the front porch and riding around in beat-up pickup trucks. Accompanying Barbara McQueen's beautiful photos are her reminisces, which like the photos are relaxed and intimate.”
Idaho Mountain Express
“It's the 'King of Cool' as you have never seen him before: 232 pages of Steve McQueen viewed by his third wife, Barbara, with Marshall Terrill. We are big fans of McQueen here at Motor Trend, and you will be, too.”
Motor Trend
“He was a hell-raiser in his Hollywood heyday but there was a completely different side to the late, great Steve McQueen, as his third wife Barbara McQueen reveals in her new book, Steve McQueen: The Last Mile.”
Sunday Express
“Barbara McQueen has hundreds of pictures that she took of their time together, when she was a budding photographer. Now, she has put many of these photographs into a wonderful book, Steve McQueen: The Last Mile, in which she charts their life together.”
The Northern Echo
“Barbara McQueen, widow of Hollywood star Steve McQueen, speaks for the first time about their life during his final years and how she has coped since, as her pictorial book, Steve McQueen: The Last Mile is published 25 years after his death.”
Belfast Telegraph
“This revealing book chronicles Barbara's McQueen's early history and successful modeling career, her years with Steve at Trancas Beach where they faced the outrageous antics of unlikely neighbor Keith Moon and Steve's flying lessons at Santa Paula where the couple set up a home in an airplane hangar. The book ends with a poignant look into Steve's final days when, diagnosed with terminal cancer, he found solace in his conversion to Christianity.”
The Good Read
“Barbara McQueen's photographs, which recorded the behind-the-scenes life of McQueen, capture him doing the things he loved: driving old trucks, chatting with friends and making the movies Tom Horn and The Hunter.”
The Tennessean