ABC FORA - ABC TV

This Week on ABC Fora with Tony Jones

History, Past And Future

History, it is often said, never repeats. Yet, a little confusingly, we are also told that we need to learn lessons from history to prevent the same things happening over and over. And then there's the notion that there are no gaps between time or matter, so we in the present are intricately connected to things past and future on some great cosmic continuum, rendering the whole notion of history irrelevant. Downloads and more...

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Coming Up

Don Watson - on the 2008 American elections. Maggie Brady - on the First Taste: History & Culture in Indigenous Alcohol Use. Thailand's Mr Condom - on the benefits on contraceptives. Augusten Burroughs - talks about his writing and childhood. Gerard Henderson - on Why Menzies Matters.

Feature

History : Geoffrey Blainey On Captain Cook

Geoffrey Blainey is one of Australia's best-known historians. His latest book is called "Sea of Dangers: Captain Cook and his Rivals". It examines the antipodean voyages of Cook and the French explorer Jean de Surville. Both men were at sea at the same time pursuing similar missions. But while Cook remains one of the most revered cartographers and discoverers of all time, de Surville has been relegated to the margins of history. Here, Professor Blainey is at the State Library of NSW. We join the talk as he's discussing the search for the "missing continent", a great southern land mass that eighteenth century Europeans believed to exist.

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Topics

Regions

Business

Klein, Stiglitz And De Soto: Power, Economics And The Financial Crisis -

The global financial crisis is causing leaders worldwide to re-consider their attitudes to economic management and regulation. More…

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Environment

Rajendra Pachauri On Climate Change -

Dr. Rajendra Pachauri was the co-recipient, with Al Gore, of the 2007 Nobel peace prize. He's the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC. Here, he's delivering the 2008 Wallace Wurth lecture at the University of NSW. More…

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Books and Authors

James Frey Reads From His New Novel -

LANGUAGE WARNING: this talk contains frequent coarse language. US writer James Frey's 2003 memoir "A Million Little Pieces", shot to the top of international bestseller lists when it was endorsed by Oprah Winfrey. More…

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Health and Medicine

Prof. Fiona Stanley On Aboriginal Health -

Former Australian of the year Professor Fiona Stanley has devoted much of her career to trying to improve the health of Aboriginal people, especially children. More…

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