History lessons — historians Orlando Figes, Bettany Hughes, Matthew Longo and Dava Sobel with Annabelle Quince

05/13/25 • 55 min

Democracies in retreat, attacks on science, border disputes, death and destruction. It can feel like we are living in unprecedented times - but here's the thing: world history has a habit of repeating itself. So what lessons does history teach us about this moment in which we find ourselves? Do we humans learn anything from the past, or are we destined to repeat the same mistakes?

This event was recorded at Adelaide Writers' Week on 5 May 2025.

Speakers

Orlando FigesHistorian of Russia and EuropeEmeritus Professor of History at the University of LondonAuthor, The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture, The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia and many more

Bettany HughesClassical historian, writer, broadcasterAuthor, Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Venus and Aphrodite: history of a goddess and many morePresenter, Bettany Hughes' Lost Worlds: The Nabataeans (SBS)

Matthew LongoPolitical scientistAuthor, The Politics of Borders: Sovereignty, Security, and the Citizen after 9/11, The Picnic: A dream of freedom and the collapse of the Iron Curtain (Winner of the 2024 Orwell Prize for political writing)Assistant Professor of Political Science, Leiden University (The Netherlands)

Dava SobelScience writer and historianAuthor, Longitude, Galileo's Daughter, The Elements of Marie Curie and many more

Annabelle Quince (host)Host, Rear Vision, ABC Radio National

This event was recorded at Adelaide Writers' Week on 5 May 2025.

Speakers

Dava SobelScience writer and historianAuthor, Longitude, Galileo's Daughter, The Elements of Marie Curie and many more

Annabelle Quince (host)Host, Rear Vision, ABC Radio National

Previous Episode

Chatting with 2025 Grammy winner Ruthie Foster

After five nominations, Ruthie Foster has taken home the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album - affirming her status as an American music legend. In this intimate conversation, she shares what made her want to be a singer; the roles of her grandmother and mother in her life; why faith is so important to her and why she wants to sing about real people. And much more...

A Heartlands Conservation presented at the Blue Mountains Music Festival.

Speakers

Ruthie FosterAmerican singer-songwriter of blues and folk music. 2025 Grammy Award winner for Best Contemporary Blues Album

Gregg Borschmann (host)Writer, radio producer and oral historian for the National Library of Australia

Next Episode

Mark Zuckerberg claims corporations are culturally neutered — are they? Men, women, work, and the manosphere

Meta's Mark Zuckerberg has said “a lot of the corporate world has become culturally neutered” and that it needs more “masculine energy”? Has it and does it? At Meta, he recently shut down initiatives that promote equity and diversity in his workplace. In the USA, so has Ford, Mcdonalds, Walmart, and the Trump administration. But in Australia, less than 5% of CEOs in private companies are women and the gender pay gap is slow to budge. Meanwhile, future male leaders are being courted online by manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate. Where is all this heading? Join Natasha Mitchell and guests to consider the consequences for modern workplaces.

This event was produced by the 2025 Sorrento Writers Festival curated by festival director and founder Corrie Perkin.

Speakers

Catherine Fox AMAward-winning journalist, author, presenter, and commentator on women in the workforceAuthor, Breaking the Boss Bias: How to Get More Women Into Leadership (2024) and Stop Fixing Women (2017)Josh BornsteinLawyer specialising in employment and labour-relations law. Author, Working for the Brand: How Corporations are Destroying Free Speech (2024).