Worlds Apart tells of a well-meaning foreign policy establishment often deaf to the voices of everyday people. Its focus is the Bosnian War, but its implications extend to any situation that prompts the consideration of military intervention on humanitarian grounds. Ambassador Swanee Hunt served in Vienna during the Bosnian War and was intimately involved in American policy toward the Balkans. During her tenure as ambassador and after, she made scores of trips throughout Bosnia, and the rest of the former Yugoslavia, attempting to understand the costly delays in foreign military intervention. To that end, she had hundreds of conversations with a wide range of politicians, refugees, journalists, farmers, clergy, aid workers, diplomats, soldiers, and others. In Worlds Apart, Hunt's eighty vignettes alternate between those living out the war and "the internationals" deciding whether or how to intervene. From these stories, most of which she herself witnessed, she draws lessons applicable to conflicts throughout the world. These lessons cannot be learned from afar, Hunt says, with insiders and outsiders working apart. Only by bridging those worlds can we build a stronger paradigm of inclusive international security.

Inside : "Esteemed Mr. Carrington" -- Outside : a convenient euphemism -- Inside : angels and animals -- Outside : Carter and conscience -- Inside : "If I left, everyone would flee" -- Outside : none of our business -- Inside : Silajdžić -- Outside : unintended consequences -- Inside : the bread factory -- Outside : elegant tables -- Inside : the unspeakable -- Outside : the politics of rape -- Inside : an unlikely soldier -- Outside : happy Fourth of July -- Inside : women on the side -- Outside : contact sport -- Inside : an artificial war -- Outside : clashes -- Inside : crossing the fault line -- Outside : "The truth about Goražde" -- Inside : loyal -- Outside : Pentagon sympathies -- Inside : family friends -- Outside : extremists -- Inside : family ties -- Outside : federation -- Inside : school days -- Outside : forces and counterforces -- Inside : blood -- Outside : trade-offs -- Inside : grim lullaby -- Outside : security and cooperation -- Inside : Sarajevo Cinderella -- Outside : failure at Srebrenica -- Inside : Magbula's parrot -- Outside : the accident -- Inside : boys pretending -- Outside : bombs and bluffs -- Inside : side by side -- Outside: decisions at Dayton -- Inside : morning has broken -- Outside : waiting for Christmas -- Inside : Serb exodus -- Outside : refugees in Austria -- Inside : refugees at the residence -- Outside : diplobabble -- Inside : displaced -- Outside : sowing and reaping -- Inside : Banja Luka bitterness -- Outside : war criminals -- Inside : uncatchable -- Outside : evenhanded -- Inside : no justice in Srebrenica -- Outside : the tribunal -- Inside : waiting for the truth -- Outside : intelligence and political will -- Inside : professor, perpetrator, president -- Outside : the fourth warring party -- Inside : city signs -- Outside : out of step -- Inside : by a thread -- Outside : missing -- Inside : surviving the peace -- Outside : press tour -- Inside : organized for action -- Outside : Lyons -- Inside : "What's an NGO"? -- Outside : skewed -- Inside : a league of their own -- Outside : "With all due respect" -- Inside : Beethoven's Fifth -- Outside : "Neither free nor fair" -- Inside : Sarajevo red -- Outside : re-leaf -- Inside : watermelons -- Outside Arizona -- Inside : three hundred gold coins -- Outside : mistrust in Mostar -- Inside : new bridges -- Outside : Air Force One -- Bridging : six lessons: Test truisms; question stereotypes; find out-of-power allies; appreciate domestic dynamics; find fault; embrace responsibility.