Freedom

By: Sebastian Junger

Narrated by: Sebastian Junger

Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

A profound rumination on the concept of freedom from the best-selling author of The Perfect Storm.

Throughout history, humans have been driven by the quest for two cherished ideals: community and freedom. The two don’t coexist easily: we value individuality and self-reliance, yet are utterly dependent on community for our most basic needs. In this intricately crafted and thought-provoking book, Sebastian Junger examines this tension that lies at the heart of what it means to be human.

For much of a year, Junger and three friends - a conflict photographer and two Afghan War vets - walked the railroad lines of the East Coast. It was an experiment in personal autonomy, but also in interdependence. Dodging railroad cops, sleeping under bridges, cooking over fires and drinking from creeks and rivers, the four men forged a unique reliance on one another.

In Freedom, Junger weaves his account of this journey together with primatology and boxing strategy, the role of women in resistance movements and apache renegades and the brutal reality of life on the Pennsylvania frontier. Written in exquisite, razor-sharp prose, the result is a powerful examination of the primary desire that defines us.

©2021 Sebastian Junger (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Sebastian Junger bears witness to a hard-won and an uncertain new world, framed in vital and brilliant prose: a true and honest accounting of everything that underlies the frantic performance of life." (Philip Hoare, author of Albert and the Whale)

"A fascinating look at freedom and community." (New York Post)

"Freedom is less a travelogue than a meditation on what Americans have had to endure to gift us this galvanizing idea, which in Junger’s estimation is more complicated than we might presume and easily squandered." (Los Angeles Times)

Convise and easy to listen to

This book took me away on a long walk along the railroad tracks through several US states, surprised me with various historical details, and clearly communicated some important philosophical ideas along the way.

If only more books could capture so much in such a short volume.

The author also does a great reading of the text so it feels like a fireside story on the "last patrole".

Highly recommended.

A journey of self discovery

The book is a journey of self discovery and the meaning of the word freedom. Seldom, people confuse the use of it or believe in the reductionist version dictated by Governments. For the global audience it looks an American perspective at first but it could be in any other western country, in my own opinion.

Thoughts on independence

Though I think some of Junger's conclusions are hasty and ill-argued, "Freedom" is a great collection of musings on the individual and the collective, grounded in personal experience and historical research.