Ghost of a flea

With the world's newsweeklies among the most endangered of print species, Ken Whyte’s revitalized Maclean’s magazine gives Canadians talking points week after week. Whyte takes more risks and provokes more bile than any ever expected of this grand national institution, but it's clear the editor-publisher's chief leaning is against the dull. Between weathering the economic storm and battling two Human Rights Commission complaints, Whyte found time this year to pen a tome about the early career of another era's controversial newsperson, The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst.