The author describes his experiences building bridges between Tutsis and Hutus in Burundi through the organization that he founded, Search for Common Ground. He describes how he implemented the practice of societal conflict resolution.

Despite appalling ethnic violence elsewhere in former Yugoslavia, Macedonia has stayed relatively peaceful, thus providing a model of successful conflict prevention. The authors, whose organization leads a nongovernmental consortium to help defuse ethnic tensions in Macedonia, believe violence has been largely avoided because Macedonian leaders have demonstrated sufficient political will and because the international community has applied an appropriate mix of diplomatic, economic, military, psychological, and conflict resolution measures.