Some shelfwear and creases on spine from reading St Martin’s Press, 1989, 395 pages In 1982 the Gannett Company, the nation's biggest newspaper chain, launched USA TODAY. USA TODAY celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2007. The brainchild of Al Neuharth, it was the most expensive, most closely watched newspaper debut in history. Journalists called it "McPaper," the "titan of tidbits," and "junk-food journalism." No newspaper executive had ever put so many millions and so many careers on the line. Readers of USA TODAY - millions of them - will find this a fascinating, behind-the-scenes story of the battle to build a newspaper that has grown to redefine modern journalism. Readers of business histories will find it a classic case study of a bigrisk, big-reward business start-up.