Book Review: Canada: J. E. Atkinson of the Star
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206401900121 |
| Date | 01 March 1964 |
| Published date | 01 March 1964 |
| Author | Ramsay Cook |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Booz
Rnvmwo
97
Quinn's
arguments
rests
on
these hypotheses.
Yet
he
never
once
provides
any
evidence
of
any
variety,
sample
survey
or
otherwise,
to
substan-
tiate
these
remarks.
Had
he
examined
surveys
carried
out
in
the
province
during
the
late
1950's
by
the
Liberal
party
and
subsequently
published,
he
would
have
noted
that
French-Canadian
attitudes
on
government
activity
and
the
role
of
the
state
are
not very
different
from
those
held
by
their
English-speaking
counterparts
of
similar
socio-economic
background.
In
fact,
one
very
important
explanation
for
the
success
of
the
opposition
in
ousting
the
Union
Nationale
was
the
Liberal
promise
to
meet
French-Canadian demands
for
social
services.
A
crucial
element
in
the
Social
Credit
appeal
in
the
province
in
1962
and
1963
likewise
rests
on
such
considerations.
Thus,
while
lower-
and
working-class
French-Canadians,
like
similar
groups
throughout
the
world,
are
not
usually
concerned
about
such
niceties
as
civil
rights
and
civil
liberties,
they
certainly
expect
some-
thing
more
from
government
than
the
mouthing
of
platitudes
about
ethnic survival,
important
though this
may
be.
Nevertheless,
the
book
is
still
extremely
useful.
It
stands as
the
first
general
overview
of
the
course
of
Quebec
provincial
politics
during
the
last
three
decades.
Univeraity
of
Rochester
S.
PEE
REGKN
J.
E.
ATEKsoN
oF
THE
STA.
By
Ross
Harkness.
1963.
(Toronto: Univer-
sity
of
Toronto
Press.
vii,
390pp.
$6.00)
Despite
its title
this
book is
much
more
a
biography
of
a
newspaper
than
of
a
newspaper
publisher.
But,
of
course,
the
two
are not
easily
separated.
For
anyone
interested
in
the
story
of
this
gigantic,
often
sensational,
newspaper and
the man
who
created
it,
Harkness's
book
presents
an
insider's
view,
for
he
has
served
as
an
editorial
writer with
the
Star
since
1939.
This
fact
probably
explains
why
the
book
is
more
interesting
and
has
an
air
of
greater
authority
in
its
coverage
of
the
last
twenty-five
years
of
the
paper's
existence
than
in the
previous
four
decades.
Still,
within
its
limits,
it
is
an
almost
continuously
interesting
book.
The
limits
of
the
book
are
twofold. The
first
is
that
Atkinson
left
very
little
documentary
evidence
for
a
biographer.
The
author,
there-
fore,
is forced back
on
second-hand
sources,
including
a
long
obituary
prepared
from
interviews
with
Atkinson
a
few
years
before his
death,
which is
hardly the
most reliable
kind
of
evidence.
The
second
limitation
is
that
the author's
knowledge
of
Canadian
history
before
1939
is
shaky.
Nearly
all
of
his
comments
on
Imperial relations
before
1914
are
inaccurate, as
are
many
of
his
remarks
on
politics.
For
example
the
statement
that
Borden
was
"hampered
by
the
fact
that
he
was
depend-
ent
upon
the
support
of
some
twenty
Quebec
nationalists
who
were
absolutely
opposed
to
Canadian
participation
in
the
war"
is
wrong
on
two
counts.
Borden's
1911
majority
was
large
enough to
neutralize
the
Quebec
"Autonomists"'
and not
one
of
these members
opposed
Canadian
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