History as Therapy

Abstract

The superb expert testimony recorded on this website suggests that there is one thing we never seem to learn from history: that nature can overwhelm culture; that some of the fires that roar out of the Australian bush are unstoppable. ‘There are times,’ Mike Leonard reminds us, ‘when you have to step out of the way and acknowledge that nature has got the steering wheel at the moment.’ It seems to go against the grain of our humanity to admit that fact, no matter how severe are the lessons of history. There appears to be an embedded human inability to acknowledge the true force of fire. This online documentary grimly continues our education.