Beyond Your Command

In this monthly series, broadcaster and acclaimed historical novelist Sarah Dunant, delves into the past to help frame the present, bringing to life worlds that span the centuries.
Following the Parklands shooting in America and the eruption of protest and political engagement by its schoolchildren, Sarah Dunant explores moments in history when children have challenged adult authority, assumed their own voice, and changed the world around them.
From the 17th century French teenagers taking on their superiors on trade missions in the Ottoman Empire to the South African schoolchildren whose resistance and protest would prove to be a tragic but pivotal moment in the decline of Apartheid, this programme brings to light the powerful voices of a group often marginalised or forgotten by history.
Sarah's guests are Julia Gossard, Assistant Professor of History at Utah State University, Joy Schulz, History Professor at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska, and Sifiso Ndlovu, Professor of History at the University of South Africa.
Presenter: Sarah Dunant
Producers: Katherine Godfrey and Nathan Gower
Executive Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.