The German Peasants' War was the greatest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution. In 1524 and 1525, it swept across Germany with astonishing speed as thousands of people massed in armed bands to demand a new and more egalitarian order. The response from feudal overlords was brutal, but while the rebellion was suppressed, it would continue to influence subsequent revolts, contribute to the emergence of peasant and worker movements in the following centuries and serve as a precursor to larger social and political transformations in Europe. 

• Guest: Professor Lyndal Roper, Regius Professor of History at Oriel College, Oxford University and author of Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War, published by Hachette
• Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Trauma has become one of the defining languages of our age. Cultural theorist, Catherine Liu argues that our focus on individual suffering can obscure the deeper forces of class, inequality and power.So has trauma become a new form of political identity, and is it getting in the way of solidarity?

• Guest: Catherine Liu, Professor of Film & Media Studies at the University of California, Author of Traumatised: The New Politics of public suffering
• Producer: Ali Benton 

Australian and Canadian-run companies, some with questionable credentials, are trying to cash in on Donald Trump's promotion of deep sea mining licences. The US licensing disregards the international regulator, the International Seabed Authority.  

Plus, the US Administration is moving to open up a big slab of the seabed off American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands, despite those territories' objections. 

• Guest: Todd Woody, reporter, Bloomberg News. Specialises in the environment, and oceans in particular
• Producer: Ann Arnold

David Marr is on holiday in the outback, to see Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre in flood. He shares his birdseye view of the rare natural wonder. 

Volkswagen was once the powerhouse of German industry. Now Chinese car makers are challenging its dominance, while Dieselgate still casts a shadow over the company. VW is cutting jobs, considering factory closures, and even turning one car plant towards defence production. Can the company reinvent itself before its glory days become history?

• Guest: Jack Ewing, New York Times reporter and author of Faster, Higher, Farther: The inside story of the Volkswagen emissions fraud
• Producer: Ali Benton 

Mark Kenny reviews PM Anthony Albanese's week at the United Nations in New York, and asks whether the Australian leader should be more assertive in rebuking the US President, on issues like the regulation of AI. 

• Guest: Professor Mark Kenny, Director of the Australian Studies Institute ANU, columnist for Canberra Times, co-host of Democracy Sausage podcast

Dozens of Australian and New Zealand doctors and nurses have worked in Gaza over the past two years. They temporarily joined the local medical staff in working around the clock, sometimes on very little food, trying to help people despite limited resources, and with the constant threat of attack. Forty of those medics have contributed accounts of their experiences to a book called '‘The Weight of Witness’. It is published by Readers and Writers Against Genocide, a collective of publishing professionals who contributed their services. 

• Guests: Dr Bushra Othman, Palestinian Australian General Surgeon from Naarm/Melbourne. Has done three stints in Gaza, and edited the book.
• Dr Amy Neilson, QLD-based specialist in rural and remote , tropical, and emergency medicine. Visiting Medical Officer in the NSW Hunter/New England regions. Senior lecturer in medical education at James Cook University, Cairns. Spent two weeks in Gaza in 2025.
• Producer: Ann Arnold

A new book tracks this exotic 'spice' from the 16th century, and its origins in the world's only edible orchid, found in Central America, to the widespread use of vanilla flavouring today. And it explains how this very expensive resource came to be equated with bland. 'Vanilla' is now a synonym for ho-hum, whiter-than-white.

• Guest: Eric Jennings, Professor of History, University of Toronto. Author of ‘Vanilla: the history of an extraordinary bean’ (Yale University Press)
• Producer: Ann Arnold  

Humanity has extracted more from the Earth in the past 50 years than in all previous history combined. James Crawford explores the global scramble for dwindling resources, from lithium in Chile to the fossil-fuel landscapes of his childhood. What happens when the age of abundance comes to an end?

• Guest: James Crawford, historian and broadcaster. Author,  The Vanishing Earth, A journey through the last days of abundance
• Producer: Ali Benton 

Immigration built Australia. Since the 1830s, when free settlers began to outnumber convicts in the colonies, some 12 million migrants have come to Australia, shaping the country's economy, culture and identity.  These days, Australia is seen as one of the world's great multicultural success stories yet our relationship with newcomers has often been uneasy.

• Guest:  Mark Cully, the author of Waves of Plenty: Immigration and the Making of Australia, published by Black Inc.
• Producer: Jackie Dent

It's been 54 months since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Guardian’s senior international correspondent, Luke Harding, has witnessed the war firsthand. His latest book condemns the US 'betrayal' of Ukraine, and asks probing questions about Donald Trump’s often baffling relationship with Vladimir Putin. 

• Guest: Luke Harding, senior international correspondent for The Guardian, author of 'Betrayal: Trump, Putin and the Age of Conquest'
• Producer: Julie Street