SOURCE: "Myth and Measurement: The Innis Tradition in Economic History," in Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d'études canadiennes, Vol. 12, No. 5, Winter, 1977, pp. 96-105.

In the following essay, Aitken offers his personal and professional insights on Innis's theories of economic history.

Most people past middle age would probably agree, if they look back on their early years, that there were a few individuals who, without ever intending to do so or being conscious of having done so, exercised a decisive influence on their later thoughts and attitudes. The effect of such people is, as it were, accidental; they transform without intent. Harold Innis played such a role in my life, as in the lives of many other scholars now in their fifties and sixties. I am sure that he never thought of me as in any sense "his" student. If, during my one year as a graduate student...