Radio National Presents

The extraordinary story of a lowly-paid public servant who launched an environmental conservation movement and became an unlikely 1960s pop culture icon.

Using a combination of lyrical writing and fact driven journalism, when Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published in 1963 it alerted the world to the dangers of the overuse of the pesticide DDT. The book was embraced by the burgeoning environmental movement and rejected by vested interests. It's still considered a benchmark in environmental writing today.

This is the fourth episode of The Books That Changed Us which takes a fresh look at five influential books of the 20th century.

GuestsMichael E Mann — Presidential Distinguished Professor of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication. Author of The New Climate War and Our Fragile Moment.

Elizabeth Kolbert — journalist and Pulitzer prize winning author for The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural history. Her latest book is H is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z.

Mark Madison —  Chief Historian, US Fish and Wildlife Service. 

John Hersey's Hiroshima revealed the true horror of the 1945 nuclear bombing of Japan. Following the lives of six ordinary people from the moment of impact, the American journalist brought home the reality of the destruction and suffering caused by the atomic bombings. 

First published in The New Yorker Magazine in 1946 it soon came out as a standalone book and became a bestseller. Some have argued that it lead to the beginning of the disarmament and counter-proliferation movement.

This is the third title in the series, The Books That Changed Us which takes a fresh look at five influential books of the 20th century.

GuestsLesley Blume — author of Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World

MG Sheftall — Professor of modern Japanese cultural history and communication at the Faculty of Informatics of Shizuoka University, author of Hiroshima: The Last Witnesses.

Tilman Ruff — Board member, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (Nobel Peace Prize 1985); Founding international and Australian Chair, co-founder, Australian Committee member, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN, Nobel Peace Prize 2017); Honorary Principal Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne 

Championed by business tycoon Warren Buffett, utilised by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and exploited by the murderous cult leader, Charles Manson, the self help book, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is almost 90 and has sold many millions of copies since 1936. 

It was a surprise bestseller when it was first published in depression era United States to a readership hungry for advice for making it big in corporate America. It spawned a self-help industry and built its advice on the principle of smiling and sincerity. But is it really selling a form of manipulation?

It's the second title in the series, Books That Changed Us which takes a fresh look at five influential books of the 20th century.

GuestsJoe Hart — CEO, Dale Carnegie training

Adam Ferrier — behavioural psychologist and founder of creative agency, Thinkerbell. He's the author of The Advertising Effect: How to Change Behaviour and Stop Listening to the Customer: Try Hearing Your Brand InsteadGeorge Mladenov — lawyer and political staffer, he's best known for being a two time contestant on the reality TV show, Survivor. His book is How to Win Friends and Manipulate People. 

The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud introduced us to the concepts of the unconscious, hidden desires and repressed sexuality and is the first in our new series, The Books That Changed Us which takes a fresh look at five influential books of the 20th century.

The series begins with a book that was published at the dawn of the 20th century and is coming up to its 125th anniversary. Today it's influence it everywhere and can be seen in psychology, art, literature and cinema. 

GuestsJamieson Webster — a New York based clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst and is a faculty member of the New School for Social Research. Her latest book is Disorganization and Sex and her forthcoming title is On Breathing: Care in a Time of Catastrophe. 

Mark Polizzotti — an author, translator, editor-in-chief at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He is the recipient of a 2016 American Academy of Arts and Letters award for literature. His book is Why Surrealism Matters. 

Daniela Finzi — Research Director, Sigmund Freud Museum, Vienna 

You probably know about the last moments of the Rainbow Warrior but what do you know about the Greenpeace ship’s last voyage before it was bombed by the French in New Zealand in 1985? Where had it come from, why was it there and what was it doing? Find out in The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior.

In this final episode of The King of Kowloon, Hong Kong is being remade at warp speed. In this national security era, its politicians have been jailed and its citizens are moving overseas into exile. Yet even in this new age, there is a resurgence in interest — and attention — in that eccentric old icon, the King of Kowloon, who still has lessons for Hong Kongers.

With thanks to TED for the use of "Kacey Wang: The Art of Protest"

On June 9, 2019, Hong Kong convulses, as a million people march on the streets in protest against a proposed extradition law. The King had used his misshapen calligraphy to speak of dispossession, and now his descendants are doing the same. Millions of colourful post-it notes cover the city, protesting the end of Hong Kong's autonomy and rule of law. Art is everywhere, serving as a tool of protest and a record of defiance.

With thanks to Thomas DGX YHL for use of the song Glory to Hong Kong

The King of Kowloon is an old man now; lying frail in a hospital bed. Outside, on the streets, there is trouble. A protest at the demolition of Queen's Pier, then another at a street famous for printing wedding cards. Popular anger coalesces around the destruction of physical sites, then shifts into a battle about ideas and values. Hong Kongers begin to discover their legacy of resistance.

With thanks to South China Morning Post and Associated Press for use of news footage

In 2000, Hong Kong has been under Chinese rule for three years. At first glance, it seems that not much has changed. The King's star continues to rise — no longer seen as a dishevelled old crank, he is an artist, a fashion muse, a star of TV advertisements. The King is now a commodity — loved by everyone. Except for those that matter most to him.