Steve McQueen: The Salvation of an American Icon

A biography with an uncommon twist: it was also partial autobiography of the author. The Parallels between the author's youth and McQueen's made the biography far more personal and, for the reader, memorable. Excellent read.

Excellent book from an unlikely author (be sure to read The Jesus Revolution) about the King of Cool. I would give it 5 stars but for the formating. For some reason it is laid out like a magazine or newspaper article with bold print meant to draw your eyes to the article but completely unneeded here.

Pastor Greg Laurie, one of the country's most well known evangelists and Christian leaders, had an obsession of sorts with uncovering the truth behind a rumor that the great American actor, celebrity icon and King of Cool, Steve McQueen, had become a Christian in his final years. He decided to research the reality behind the rumor and the result is this very readable personal journey into the hardscrabble background, spiritual wilderness and final triumph of a remarkable Hollywood legend.This is a very unusual book. It is really Greg Laurie's testimony about discovering Steve McQueen's testimony. Laurie's method is to use himself as a foil for McQueen so that in telling Steve McQueen's story, Greg Laurie actually shares his own. The two had very much in common including absent fathers, promiscuous mothers and the resultant poverty and abuse that often characterizes single parent homes. The difference between the two is that Laurie became a Christian in his teens while Steve McQueen joined the Marine Corps before embarking on a career as an actor.This book's title sounds like a straight forward biography but it is not. Greg Laurie starts the book primarily talking about himself, reminding the reader over and over again how much he and Steve McQueen have in common. As a result, the introduction and first several chapters will disappoint some readers. The weaving of Steve McQueen's life with Greg Laurie's doesn't always work. One is tempted to tell the author to shut up and get on with Steve McQueen's story. But this is as much Laurie's story as it is McQueen's. Laurie's writing style is also distracting. One would expect help from the co-author, Marshall Terrill but it doesn't come. But Greg Laurie is a preacher after all and he writes EXACTLY the way he preaches -- with self-deprecating humor and occasional tangents or asides meant to color the text. If you don't know Greg Laurie or you never heard him speak, this will annoy you. But I endured it because I do listen to Pastor Laurie preach now and again and recognized it for what it was.Yet as the book moves forward it builds up steam, digging a little deeper each chapter into the real person behind the icon that Steve McQueen was for a generation of his fans. While Laurie did do his due diligence in the research department, the strength of this book is in the revelations of people Laurie met and interviewed. He was looking for those people who would recognize and shed light on the real Steve McQueen. And by doing his own research, he turned this slow-starting book into a very remarkable piece of investigative journalism.Steve McQueen did, indeed, commit his life to Christ. Not on his deathbed, as some suggest, but prior to his cancer diagnosis. And McQueen's final battle against an incurable cancer seemed only to strengthen his faith in Jesus Christ, not diminish it as it might have had his conversion not been genuine.Steve McQueen: The Salvation of an American Icon is highly recommended. If you get it and find the first several chapters to be distracting or rambling as I did, just hang on, it gets better. And the final quarter of the book is powerful, heart-wrenching and inspirational all at the same time. Highly Recommended.

Book about Steve McQueen by Greg Laurie. It's interesting but too much details not needed.

A fantastic look at the life of the King of Cool and his struggles and battles with the Hollywood lifestyle. The author had a similar upbringing as McQueen and is able to bring the story of McQueens search for peace on a personal level.

Interesting and intriguing. We always think about movie stars and the rich having great lives, I was humbled to learn that it isn’t all that it seems. I was so excited to learn that God worked wonders in Steve’s life. God truly does work in mysterious ways.

Steve McQueen was a broken man who finally found the One who could heal his brokenness. Greg Laurie does a beautiful job telling his story.

I was listening to Pastor Greg Laurie on the radio last week and he was talking about this book, so I bought it, and couldn’t put the book down! Steve McQueen died exactly two months before I was born, but I have seen many of his movies growing up. The car scene in the movie “Bullitt” gave me a love for Mustangs. In this book, Pastor Greg Laurie goes on a cross country trip in his own 1967 Highland Green Ford Mustang to every area McQueen ever lived, interviewed people in his life, crafted an excellent 1st hand account biography, and even talked about how McQueen, Hollywood action star, accepted Christ as Savior shortly before he died. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book!

What an amazing story - we of the fan ilk have NO idea about what it’s like to experience the life that this icon & the author lived. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice that makes us equal at the foot of the cross because your blood covers us! Can’t wait to meet Steve & Greg in Glory!!!

Took a few chapters to get into but worth the effort for the ending. I was born in the sixties and named Steve so needed to read it. Never seen the movie but can see how Greg uses the car to string the story together.

Greg Laurie has such a down to earth tone to his writing. Very information dense but reads if a fun and adventurous way. I’m a little too young to know Steve McQueen’s work personally but always knew of him. This was a great way to get caught up on a great American icon but also see how Christ had such an impact on the life of someone who, by the worlds standards, had everything but was still dissatisfied. Until he met Jesus!

Good book . Worth reading if you know the main characters in the book. Don't know about today's generation and their movie tastes.

Interesting read. I was always a fan of Steve McQueen but knowing the outcome of his life, I am now even more so.