“The First World War shook the scaffolding of progress because it was deadly and unexpectedly long: it showed that technology could be two-faced. The war delivered one other insidious attack on the idea of progress by raising a moral question which the believers in progress had taken for granted: had the morality of Europeans improved during the long era of 'progress'?”

Australian historian, academic, best-selling author and commentator

Geoffrey Blainey is an Australian historian, academic, best-selling author, and commentator. He is known for his work on Australian history and for bringing historical ideas to a wide public audience. Blainey has written extensively on Australia and on the ways history shapes public life. Alongside his academic work, he has built a large readership as an author and public commentator, and his writing is often associated with broad historical interpretation rather than narrow specialist study.