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How Does Ethnic Pride Turn Into Ethnic Conflict?

Writer Michael Ignatieff, who has investigated six of the world's trouble spots for a BBC television series, and a companion book: "Blood & Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). A Canadian of Russian ancestry who lives in England, Ignatieff's book raises the question of why nationalism, which once unified countries like Germany and Italy, today pulls countries apart. Ignatieff reports from Germany, the Ukraine, Quebec, and the former Yugoslavia, and writes, "The world is not run by skeptics and ironists but by gunmen and true believers, and the new world they are bequeathing to the next century already seems a more violent and desperate place..."

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Other segments from the episode on April 27, 1994

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, April 27, 1994: Interview with Alison Des Forges; Interview with Michael Ignatieff; Review of Soundgarden's album "Superunknown."
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22:37

Political and Ethnic Violence in Rwanda.

Alison Des Forges. She's a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where her specialty concerns the central African countries of Rwanda and Burundi. She's also the Co-Chair of the International Commission on Human Rights Abuse in Rwanda, and a consultant to Human Rights Watch Africa on Rwanda and Burundi. Rwanda has descended into civil strife since April 6th, when the Rwanda and the Burundi presidents were both killed in a plane crash.

Interview
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04:23

A Hard Rock Album With Punch.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the new album by the Seattle band Soundgarden, voted by "Sassy" magazine "America's ugliest band". It's their fourth, "Superunknown," on A & M Records.

Review

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08:03

Michael Ignatieff

Michael Ignatieff is Professor of the Practice of Human Rights and the Director of the Carr Center of Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. He has traveled to Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Afghanistan. He discusses his reluctant support of a war on Iraq, and his concerns.

Interview
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37:10

Despite the Danger, Red Cross Workers Remain Neutral and Unarmed

Writer Michael Ignatieff's article "Unarmed Warriors" appears in the March 24, 1997 issue of The New Yorker. He writes about the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the increased dangers that workers have been exposed to, although they are considered neutral and carry no weapons. In Rwanda in 1994, 36 workers were killed in the war, and in Chechnya last December, six staff members were murdered.

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21:25

A Marine's View of the Sudan Crisis

Former Marine Capt. Brian Steidle has been in the Darfur region of Western Sudan monitoring the humanitarian crisis there for the African Union. Steidle says there's no doubt that Sudan is in the midst of genocide.

Interview

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Paperwork, lines, hours on hold: There's a 'Time Tax' on Americans who need help most

Journalist ANNIE LOWREY is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she covers economic policy. Her new book is The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time, and How to Fix It. She argues that the red tape in American life isn't an accident. It's a policy choice, one that determines who gets food assistance, health care, even the ability to vote. Her previous book is Give People Money about universal basic income. (INTERVIEW BY TONYA MOSLEY) (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

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'Pluribus' star Rhea Seehorn says no thanks to a world dictated by groupthink

(2.) Actor RHEA SEEHORN<RAY Seehorn>. The former co-star of “Better Call Saul” is nominated for an Emmy for her starring role in “Pluribus,” the Apple TV series created by Vince Gilligan. Terry Gross spoke with RHEA SEEHORN last year about the “Pluribus”. “Pluribus” is nominated for eighteen Emmys, including one for SEEHORN as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. The Emmys are scheduled for September 14th. (THIS INTERVIEW ORIGINALLY AIRED 12.09.2025)

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