Europe Rises Again [60min]

What's the biggest threat to American supremacy? Islamic fundamentalism? China? How about Europe? Today Europe has more people, more trade, and more wealth than the U.S. And the European welfare state offers a potent alternative to American capitalism -- and what government's supposed to do. In this hour of "To the Best of Our Knowledge," how Europe has emerged as the great counterweight to American power. Also, Europe's own struggle with radical Muslims.

SEGMENT 1: Washington Post reporter T.R. Reid tells Anne Strainchamps about the changing relationship between Europe and the United States as Europe emerges into a leading economic superpower. Reid's new book is The United States of Europe. Also, Steve Paulson talks with Jorgen Nielsen and Sam Cherribi about the influence of the growing numbers of Moslems who have immigrated to Europe. Nielsen teaches Islamic Studies at the University of Birmingham in England, and Cherribi is a former member of the Dutch Parliament.

SEGMENT 2: Adam Gopnick reads excerpts from his book Paris to the Moon, set to music by the band Paris Combo. Also, Joe Queenan is an American married to an Englishwoman, and the author of Queenan Country: A Reluctant Anglophile's Pilgrimage to the Mother Country. Queenan tells Jim Fleming why he admires the ambivalence of the British toward their historical figures like Oliver Cromwell and Margaret Thatcher and explains the real difference between Beatles Paul and John.

SEGMENT 3: Orhan Pamuk is Turkey's most famous writer and a cultural ambassador for Turkey around the world. He talks with Steve Paulson about his novel Snow in which a secular poet is confronted by Islamic fundamentalists in a provincial town. Excerpts from the book are read by actor Steve O'Connell.