REVIEWS

	. What’s being said about   Fighting Words: The Social Crusades of Joseph E. Atkinson		Click here to watch the trailer of Fighting Words from Vision TV
	A legacy of social justice Starweek Magazine review by Jim Bawden (April 15)   … Welcome to Toronto as a new century was about to ring in. No, it's not the sleek city of 1999 but a hundred years earlier, when the grim realities of life in an urban Victorian world often meant early death.  It was the Toronto of 1899, the Toronto of Joseph E. Atkinson, the feisty publisher of the Toronto Star who spent his life preaching social justice for all Canadians. It was a pretty radical vision of society in its day, and it still is. A new TV biography, Fighting Words, artfully ties Atkinson's deeply felt Christianity with the emerging forces of Progressivism then sweeping the continent … More…
	Watch to see Toronto the grim and grimy Globe and Mail review by John Doyle (April 19)   … What makes Fighting Words worth anybody's time is the picture it offers of Toronto at the start of the 20th century and into the 1930s. It's not hard to see what motivated Atkinson. There was no sewage system. All sorts of garbage and even the offal from the abattoirs went directly into Lake Ontario, the source of the city's drinking water. Each summer brought cholera and typhoid. Industry ran on child labour. Commercial interests controlled the key utilities of electric power and transport … More…
	Toronto the not so good Michael Pieri, Executive Producer of Fighting Words, is interviewed by Andy Barrie, host of CBC Toronto’s Metro Morning (April 19)   He had a very strong view about what life should be, he thought life should be fair for all people, he believed that prosperity must bless all, and his favourite expression was Humanity Above All.  That in fact became crystallized into the Star's editorial philosophy…. More…
	Great citizens with high ideals The Kitchener-Waterloo Record Editorial April 26, 2006 This month, Vision TV aired the biography Fighting Words, about newspaper publisher Joseph Atkinson and his lifelong crusade to make Canada a nation that cares about its poorest citizens. It is an excellent chronicle of a life of purpose realized.   Viewers in Waterloo Region may have noticed the role that two former Kitchener residents played in helping Atkinson achieve his goals: William Lyon Mackenzie King and Beland Honderich. We can be proud of the contribution of these native sons to Atkinson's legacy.  More...   A tale of two Torontos Toronto Star review by Scott Simmie (April 4)   Documentary on Joseph Atkinson shows a disturbing side of the city at the dawn of the 20th century Former Star publisher used the power of the press to fight for social reforms… More…