Beautiful Souls: The Courage and Conscience of Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times Highlight

“Croats and Serbs argued endlessly with me as to why Serbs and Croats, respectively, were congenital monsters,” wrote Glenny. “They would cite history, religion, education and biology as reasons.” Everyone was sure the enemy had it in for them—which, of course, made their own mistrust and hostility seem logical and justified. Nationalism, Glenny concluded, “appears to neutralize that part of the mind which is able to fathom complex equations. Instead, action is motivated by a single Leninist principle: ‘Those who are not for us, are against us.’”