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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..."

16:26

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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