EUROPE AND AMERICA

Program 03-02-23-A

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To The Best of Our Knowledge
from Wisconsin Public Radio

Americans are from Mars, and Europeans are from Venus. At least that's the view of foreign policy analyst Robert Kagan. He says Europeans no longer believe in military power, quite unlike America's leaders. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the growing split between Europe and America. And the peace treaty that carved up Iraq some eighty years ago.

SEGMENT 1:

Foreign policy analyst Robert Kagan tells Steve Paulson that Europeans and Americans have very different ideas about the value of military power. He says the Europeans' reservations about invading Iraq are entirely legitimate. Kagan's book is "Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order." Also, historian Margaret MacMillan tells Jim Fleming how a lot of today's troubles in the Middle East stem from the way the Versailles Treaty after the First World War carved up the Ottoman Empire with no consideration of the Arabs' political aspirations. MacMillan is the author of "Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World."

Web Extra: You can hear the entire unedited interview with Margaret MacMillan here: Listen!.

SEGMENT 2:

William Hitchcock's history of post-war Europe is called "The Struggle for Europe." Hitchcock tells Jim Fleming that Europe is divided in its attitudes towards America and that the wariness goes back to the Second World War. Also, Jane Walmsley is an American who's lived in England for twenty five years. Her book is "Brit-Think, Ameri-Think." She talks with Anne Strainchamps about how American attitudes differ from British ones, and bemoans the colder indoor temperatures Brits prefer.

SEGMENT 3:

German writer W.G. Sebald writes about the Allied carpet bombing of Germany at the end of WWII in a book called "On the Natural History of Destruction." We hear an excerpt from that book read by Paul Hurley, then a conversation between Steve Paulson and German historian Jessica Gienow-Hecht. They discuss why the huge casualties among German civilians have been taboo for discussion.

Cassette copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 03-02-23-A.

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Books:

• William S. Hitchcock, The Struggle for Europe (Doubleday)
• Robert Kagan, Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order (Knopf)
• Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (Random House)
• W.G. Sebald, On the Natural History of Destruction (Random House)
  

Music:

• Music for Europe and America:

  In the Return:
  Sergent Garcia (a French and Spanish rock group) w/ "Stop Da War"

  After Robert Kagan:
  Michael Feinstein w/ "Over There" On "Over There" CD
  Angel Records

  After Margaret MacMillan:
  Dania w/ "Leiley" on "Arabic Groove" CD
  Putumayo World Music

  After William Hitchcock:
  Suzanne Vega w/ "The Long Voyage" on "Songs from the Cold Seas" CD
  Columbia

  After Jane Walmsley:
  "I'm So Worried" on "The Instant Monty Python CD Collection"
  Virgin Records

  :29 MUSIC OPTION
  Kronos Quartet w/ "First Movement" on "Pieces of Africa" CD
  Elektra Entertainment

  During Sebald Reading:
  "Poco Adagio" on "Camille Saint-Saens: Symphonie Avec Orgue"
  performed by Michael Plasson

  After Jessica Gienow-Hecht:
  Gustav Mahler's "Suite from Orchestral Works by J.S. Bach"
  performed by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
  Schwann
  

Distribution dates:

week of 02/23/2003 - hour 1

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

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