Abstract:  Alexander Watson's Marginal Man makes three contributions to the Innis literature.

It provides the most complete forensic analysis we have or are ever likely to have of Innis' interaction with the intellectual context of his time.

Second, Marginal Man provides the first major biographical treatment of Innis' life since Donald Creighton's biography published in 1957.

And finally, it provides a characterization of Innis' thought, an account of its trajectory, and an identification of its provenance.

Watson's arguments -- particularly those associated with his third contribution -- are complex and provocative.  But when they are read in conjunction with Innis' published and unpublished writings, they are not convincing.  He attempts to articulate conceptual divides between Innis' economic and communication writings that do not exist.  And he attempts to link Innis' thought to non-documented sources while ignoring sources that are cited in Innis' writings.