Inside the Founding of Newsweek: How a Hot-Tempered, One-Legged R.A.F. Pilot Launched an American Media Giant

Axiom Business Book Awards Bronze Medal winner (biography/memoir)

What would be one of the worst times to launch a national business? Maybe 1933 in the depths of the Great Depression.

A former wartime pilot and Time magazine's first foreign editor, Thomas J. C. Martyn had a vision: to establish a weekly news magazine that would rival Time, which in the 1930s was the only magazine of its kind in the United States.

Written the 1960s and recently rediscovered, this memoir draws a vivid picture of Martyn's efforts to launch Newsweek.

Getting a national magazine off the ground in the Great Depression took an incredible amount of work and perseverance.  Readers will discover:

What was Martyn's role with Time magazine?

What did President Roosevelt tell Martyn about Newsweek?

How did Martyn meet Henry Ford?

What was the impact of Martyn's Celtic personality?

How did billionaire Vincent Astor get involved in Newsweek?

What did a week in Bermuda have to do with the future of Newsweek?

Although it was an exceedingly difficult time to launch such a business, Martyn succeeded--so resoundingly that Newsweek has prospered for over 80 years, first as a stalwart of print media and now in the digital era, as well.

History buffs, Newsweek fans and entrepreneurs alike will enjoy this memoir of one man's pursuit of his dreams in the tumultuous era of the Great Depression.

Thomas J.C. Martyn was the founder of Newsweek, the second-largest news magazine in the history of the United States. The son of a British soldier, Martyn served as a pilot in World War I, losing a leg in an aviation accident. After the war he was recruited as Time's first foreign editor, then worked for the New York Times before raising capital to start Newsweek. He published the first edition in 1933, at the height of the Great Depression.