The Fractured Twentieth Century

Please join us for light refreshments and conversation in the Rowell Room as retired Senator, the Hon. Jerry S. Grafstein, P.C., Q.C. (JD 1958), shares his latest non-fiction book, The Fractured Twentieth Century (Mosaic Press 2022), an original and powerful collection of essays by one of Canada's most renowned and accomplished public figures.

Copies will be made available for purchase at this event.

This event precedes the Faculty of Law's annual Grafstein Lecture in Communications, with guest speaker, Kate Crawford, Research Professor, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. .

About the book

A personal history of the fragmented 20th century that has careened from modern technology to barbarity in a complex and confusing spiral. The author is the son of immigrants who were born thirty kilometres from each other in southern Poland. Fortuitously, due to religious ties, they met in Toronto in 1927, fell in love, married and settled in London, Ontario in 1930. The author's father's life spanned the first half of the twentieth century until his tragic death in a street accident in 1950. His mother's life spanned the entire twentieth century, born in 1900, arriving in Canada in 1907, and she passed away in 2002, in Toronto, and remained lucid to the end.

History repeats itself, while mistakes are little learned from errors, venality and endless brutality. At best, he witnessed the descent from principle to pragmatism. He is fortunate in encountering fascinating personalities in politics, religion, arts, academia, and sports all of whom left singular impressions on him and others in Canada and around the globe. Ultimately, he discovered that it is not the destination but the journey along the way that continues to astound and surprise him as the innards of the human condition revolves and evolves without rhyme or reason.

About the Hon. Jerry S. Grafstein

Grafstein, B.A., J.D., K.C., is a Canadian lawyer and businessman. He graduated from the University of Toronto Law School in 1958 and received his Queen’s Counsel in 1972. He was a co-founder of City TV, YTV and OMNI Television in Toronto and cable companies in United States, United Kingdom and South America. He served in the Senate of Canada from 1984 to 2010 and was the longest-serving member of the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He also served on every committee of the Senate for a time. He served as co-chair of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group and as a senior officer of the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly for over a decade. He also served as Chairman of the Banking and Commerce Committee. He is an author of a number of books including Beyond Imagination, The Making of the Parliamentary Poet Laureate: Based on a Private Member's Bill, Parade: A Tribute to Remarkable Contemporaries, A Leader Must Be a Leader: Encounters With Eleven Prime Ministers and The Fractured 20th Century.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Jackman Law Building, 78 Queens Park, Toronto, Canada