John Cain Lunch: Repeat with Dennis Glover

Are we about to see history repeat?

'Do you ever stop and ask, 'Is it all going to happen again?' —Siegfried Sassoon

We live in an age that seems eerily familiar. A time of dictators, populists, organised lying, European wars, grabs for territory, ideological extremism and even antisemitism, a time when things are falling apart and the centre is struggling to hold. It has all happened before, in the 1920s and '30s. History is sending us a warning, and unless we heed it, history will have its revenge as we repeat the disaster of the 1940s.

The world needs to learn the lessons of these decades, and fast. Dennis Glover retells the story of the interwar years in a series of lessons drawn from unfolding events and the unheeded omens of those who spoke out but were ignored.

An urgent, surprising and altogether persuasive read, Repeat: A Warning from History will open your eyes.

Dennis Glover was educated at Monash and Cambridge universities and has made a career as one of Australia's leading speechwriters. His first novel, The Last Man in Europe, was published around the world in multiple editions and was nominated for several literary prizes, including the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. His second novel, Factory 19, was published in 2020, and his third, Thaw, in 2023. His book-length essay An Economy Is Not A Society was published in 2015.

Dennis is one of the founders of Per Capita and a founding fellow.

Attend our in-person lunch and discussion at 12:30pm or watch the live stream remotely.