Fouad Ajami

In 1988, Ajami spoke with Terry Gross about an essay he'd written about how political catastrophe came to Beruit, Lebanon, and how the city where he grew up became a land of cruelty and hatred.

Writer Fouad Ajami joins Fresh Air to talk about Beirut, and how it attracted Lebanese who lived in the countryside. The civil war in Lebanon, Ajami says, has led to a collapse of the country's cultural and religious pluralism, which is born out in several internecine conflicts.