Librería Samer Atenea
Librería Aciertas (Toledo)
Kálamo Books
Librería Perelló (Valencia)
Librería Elías (Asturias)
Donde los libros
Librería Kolima (Madrid)
Librería Proteo (Málaga)
A newspaper is a nerve centre in the body politic, a place where opinion can become influence and sometimes even power. This transformation depends for its occurrence on the character of the man guiding the destinies of that paper. When J.E Atkinson was engaged to edit and direct the newspaper that became The Toronto Daily Star it was the least in circulation and influence of Toronto’s six daily papers. He made it the most provocative and successful newspaper in Canda. The success story of The Star, at first nationalist and Liberal, and then internationalist and liberal, and of its competiting news papers reveals that changing moods and tensions of the first fifty years of this century in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the rest of the world. The policies of his paper reflected J.E. Atkinson’s personality. He came from a humble family to wealth and influence in the formation of public policy. Despite his extraordinary financial success, based on an intuitive understating of the interests and problems of ’the little man in the semi-detached house’ he did not allow his character to lapse into conformity with those of the well-to-do. He was a radical, and his soocial conscience and his desire for social betterment never left him. But he was also a businessman in a highly competitive field, and there were times when the demands of business efficiency warred with his passion for social reform, as they do in our society today. He was a controversial figure for much of his life, and the terms of his will kept the controversy alive after his death. This account of Joseph E.Atkinson’s life and of the star is written with an objective and lively candour. It is easy and informative reading which no one interested in newspapers or the history of Toronto or Canada will want to miss.
