An exploration of war and peace
Peter Doherty interviewed by Gideon Haigh
Through a 60-year career, Peter Doherty has always been a writer, though the great majority of his opus has been as research papers and reviews in the specialised science of infection and immunity. Latterly, he also published seven books on science and the scientific for a general readership, including ‘Pandemics: what everyone needs to know’ (2013) and an ‘Insider’s Plague Year’ (2021), which he discussed at this festival last year. His latest effort (2022) ‘Empire War Tennis and Me’ uses his family story to explore ideas about war and peace, with particular reference to the Pacific conflict of 1942–5 that so threatened Australia.