Eat, Drink and be Literary with Gareth Evans & Laura Tingle by Experience ANU

Listen to Professor Gareth Evans and Laura Tingle in conversation to discuss his new book, Incorrigible Optimist: A Political Memoir, in which he looks back over the highs and lows of his public life as a student activist, civil libertarian, law reformer, industry minister, international policymaker, educator and politician. He explains why it is that, despite multiple disappointments, he continues to believe that a safer, saner and more decent world is achievable, and why, for all its frustrations, politics remains an indispensable profession not only for megalomaniacs but idealists.

Gareth Evans, a colourful and central figure in Australian politics for two decades, has been described by Bob Hawke as having "the most acute mind" of any of his ministers and has been recognised a worldwide for his contributions, both as Foreign Minister and in later international roles, to conflict resolution, genocide prevention and curbing weapons of mass destruction. In this sometimes moving, often entertaining, and always lucid memoir, Gareth Evans focuses on what he describes as "the biggest policy themes pursued during the course of a long public life, recalling some of the characters and incidents, and pain and pressure and exhilaration, experienced along the way".