NATO's war against Yugoslavia isn't the only problem in Europe. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, why the new "Euro" has a lot of people wondering what it means to be European. Also, re-writing the history of World War One: a maverick historian says Britain never should have joined the fight against Germany.

Thomas Friedman is the foreign affairs columnist for the NY Times and the author of "The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization." He tells Steve Paulson that the United States is really a European power. Also, Daniel Singer is the European correspondent for The Nation and author of "Whose Millenium? Theirs or Ours?" He tells Steve Paulson Europe desperately needs to find its own identity, separate from the United States. And, John Mortimer, author of the classic Rumpole stories, talks with Jim Fleming about his new satiric targets: Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. Mortimer's latest book is "The Sound of Trumpets."

Niall Ferguson is a historian at Oxford University and the author of "The Pity of War." He talks with Steve Paulson about his controversial thesis that Britain should never have entered the First World War. He also says Germany had legitimate strategic reasons for waging war while Britain acted out of domestic political concerns, and that many soldiers (despite the horrific conditions) enjoyed the slaughter, thereby prolonging the war. The segment starts with a reading by Stephen Hemming of a Wilfred Owen poem. The reading was excerpted from "Desperate Glory," an episode of the CPB/Anneberg series "Dilemmas of War and Peace."

Distribution dates:

• week of 05/02/99 - hour 1