Reviews for Tribe

by Sebastian Junger

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Prominent journalist Junger (War, 2010) examines a number of modern institutions to assess their roles in leading people to make individualistic choices rather than acting out the feeling of being competent, necessary members of a tribe or community. Humans now end up feeling isolated and alone, he believes, starting early in life. Unlike hunter-gatherer moms, who stayed close to their babies day and night, mothers are now often away from their infants, who sleep alone. He also observes that people are wired to help each other and risk their lives for complete strangers, but police and fire departments largely eliminate that need. Junger continues his long investigation into war, noting that although it inspires ancient human virtues of courage, loyalty and selflessness, it also does harm, including post-traumatic-stress disorder. He observes, Instead of being able to work and contribute to society a highly therapeutic thing to do a large percentage of veterans are just offered lifelong disability payments. Junger uses every word in this slim volume to make a passionate, compelling case for a more egalitarian society.--Springen, Karen Copyright 2016 Booklist


Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A short book with a solid argument about the downside of civilization's progress. The latest from Vanity Fair contributing editor Junger (War, 2010, etc.) mixes memoir, reportage, and historical research into a case for the advantages of the tribe and how connective, communal benefits are lost as society moves toward competition and individuality. The author begins with the early settlement of America, examining how colonists introduced to tribal life, or captured into it, might convert to it, but the process rarely worked the other way. "Indians almost never ran away to join white society," writes Junger. "Emigration always seemed to go from the civilized to the tribal, and it left Western thinkers flummoxed about how to explain such an apparent rejection of their society." The author then makes a leap in his argument that is as provocative as some will find it counterintuitive: how war and catastrophe seem to instill that tribal spirit that individuals have otherwise lost and how the stress of such times serves to improve mental health rather than threaten it. As jarring as conjecture about "the positive effects of war on mental health" might seem, Junger amasses plenty of academic and anecdotal support. From there, he makes another leap, to PTSD, asserting that its prevalence stems less from the traumas of battle than from the difficulties of rejoining a disjointed, divided society after collective tribal bonding. "The problem doesn't seem to be the trauma on the battlefield so much as reentry into society," he writes, showing how PTSD can affect returnees who have never experienced combat. The author resists the temptation to glorify war as the solution to a nation's mental ills and warns against the tendency "to romanticize Indian life," but he does succeed in showing "the complicated blessings of civilization,' " while issuing warnings about divisiveness and selfishness that should resonate in an election year. The themes implicit in the author's bestsellers are explicit in this slim yet illuminating volume. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


Publishers Weekly
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In this small but perfectly lucid book, National Magazine Award-winning journalist Junger (War) meditates on tribal sentiment, how it aids "loyalty and belonging and the eternal human quest for meaning," and how the disappearance of this sentiment has had toxic consequences for modern societies. During the U.S.'s wars of settlement with its native population, many white men defected to, and many white captives were reluctant to return from, what Junger describes as a Stone Age lifestyle; he wonders why, and suspects that the material benefits of Western culture couldn't compete with "the intensely communal nature of an Indian tribe," which was "more or less run by consensus and broadly egalitarian." In the present day, the close interdependence of a tribal lifestyle and its shared resources are things Westerners only experience in combat situations and disasters. For all the comfort of modern society, Junger thinks, its "profound alienation" has led in America to income inequality, behaviors destructive to the environment, high rates of suicide and mental illness (including PTSD), and rampage shootings. Ending with a look at the country's divisive political rhetoric, Junger suggests that the U.S. could cure its ills if we could only focus on the collective good. Agent: Stuart Krichevsky, Stuart Krichevsky Literary. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.


Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

For millennia, humans banded together in tribes that provided food, shelter, economic stability, and defense from enemies. Western society evolved away from close-knit clans as economies diversified and industry developed and basic needs could be met outside the tribe. Even in a contemporary culture that values individual expression and independent thinking, the concept of "tribe" speaks to our need to identify with others and to belong. Junger (The Perfect Storm) observes that soldiers experience the value of the tribe, in which their lives depend on their comrades, and their comrades depend on them. When military deployments end, many combat veterans are at a loss without that support system. Junger extends his study to people who must work together to survive after natural disasters or terrorist attacks. This is a short book and a thoughtful one. Junger reads his own work clearly and precisely. VERDICT A good choice for popular collections.-Nann Blaine Hilyard, Winthrop Harbor, IL © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Journalist Junger proffers a straightforward reading of his latest. He has a limited vocal range but a good narrator's voice, excellent pacing, clear diction, and just enough dramatic flair to engage listeners in his extended essay on the causes of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) suffered by so many veterans on their return from combat. His thesis is that war offers men and women conditions in which to make close friends, to feel an integral part of a community, and to feel there are always buddies to watch their backs. At home, in a nation of individualists, vets often feel they don't belong among those who haven't shared their experiences. Junger's sense of the significance and urgency of his conclusions manifests in his heartfelt narration. A Twelve hardcover. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.