Distinguished the last of the explosive books (7)
I believe the answer is:
eminent
'distinguished' is the definition.
('eminent' can be a synonym of 'distinguished')
'the last of the explosive books' is the wordplay.
'last of' says to take the final letters.
'the explosive' becomes 'mine' (e.g. a landmine).
'books' becomes 'nt' (New Testament).
The final letter of 'the' is 'e'.
'e'+'mine'+'nt'='EMINENT'
(Other definitions for eminent that I've seen before include "Respected; outstanding" , "Outstanding or distinguished (7)" , "Illustrious like cardinal?" , "Distinguished, prominent" , "Important" .)