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daja57's review
5.0
This book is framed by a travelogue. The author, with three friends and a dog, walked for a year (although not all in one go) along the railroad lines in the American east, sleeping rough. It is in many ways a classic American journey: the men are emulating the pioneers, they are practising the cherished American ideals of self-sufficiency and freedom from authority.
They are a macho bunch. Four men, all experienced in warfare (Junger is a journalist and war reporter, and the friends are a conflict photographer and two veterans from the Afghan campaign), who anticipate trouble: “We were always worried about the locals and on a weekend night it seemed like a good idea to sleep at a place that was hard to find and easy to leave. If they came up one side, we’d go down the other. If that didn’t work, we’d stay on top and see how badly they wanted this.” (Book Two: Fight) Indeed, they are shot at more than once.
As they walk, Junger muses over that classic American ideal: Freedom. He and his friends feel free (“most nights we were the only people in the world who knew where we were. There are many definitions of freedom but surely that is one of them.” ; Book One: Run) but this is a mirage because their existence is marginal and precarious. Freedom is "first and foremost ... the absence of threat. A person who can be killed without any consequences for the killers is not free in the most important sense of the word” (Book One: Run) There must be a trade-off between autonomy and security. Junger and his friends may have no obligations to outsiders but to stay safe they have to become tightly interdependent, ceding personal freedom to the needs of the group. In the same way, the American pioneers as a group were tightly bound by a code of obligation to one another because each might need the other to help when the Indians (Native Americans) attacked. This is the same bargain as that made when joining a street gang: "The inside joke about freedom ... is that you’re always trading obedience to one thing for obedience to another.” (Book One: Run)
But surely hunter-gatherer societies are freer than others. Movement from place to place is, he suggests “subversive for the development of authority ... Adults of either sex can readily, if they choose, obtain enough food to feed themselves and are potentially autonomous.” (Book One: Run). His group of friends are like nomads but although they feel free he realises that “everything we needed—food, clothes, gear—came from the very thing we thought we were outwitting. ... Few people grow their own food or build their own homes, and no one—literally no one—refines their own gasoline, performs their own surgery, makes their own ball bearings, grinds their own eyeglass lenses, or manufactures their own electronics from scratch. Everyone—including people who vehemently oppose any form of federal government—depend on a sprawling supply chain that can only function with federal oversight, and most of them pay roughly one-third of their income in taxes for the right to participate in this system.” (Book One: Run)
Most people live as citizens of a nation state and have surrendered a part of their own freedom in return for prosperity within that state. Junger realises that, counter to the opinion that freedom means the freedom to make money, a society with a great discrepancy between the poor and the rich must have limited freedom for the poor (a wage slave is still a slave). “An important part of freedom is not having to make sacrifices for people who don’t have to make sacrifices for you.” (Book Three: Think)
Similarly, nations are prepared to bargain away some of their sovereignty in exchange for prosperity (as brought by mutual trading alliances) or security (achieved through common defence systems). Junger believes that in human societies the powerful cannot always prevail against the powerless, citing examples (eg Afghanistan) in which insurgencies have defeated powerful armies. He sees this as key to the development of international human rights which may curtail freedom but are essential to ensuring the freedom of citizens within societies.
The book is also a meditation on walking. I have done some long-distance walks (though much shorter than this one - up to 100 miles - and not sleeping rough but deliberately seeking out towns, hotels and restaurants as part of the experience) and I enjoyed this aspect of the book.
They are a macho bunch. Four men, all experienced in warfare (Junger is a journalist and war reporter, and the friends are a conflict photographer and two veterans from the Afghan campaign), who anticipate trouble: “We were always worried about the locals and on a weekend night it seemed like a good idea to sleep at a place that was hard to find and easy to leave. If they came up one side, we’d go down the other. If that didn’t work, we’d stay on top and see how badly they wanted this.” (Book Two: Fight) Indeed, they are shot at more than once.
As they walk, Junger muses over that classic American ideal: Freedom. He and his friends feel free (“most nights we were the only people in the world who knew where we were. There are many definitions of freedom but surely that is one of them.” ; Book One: Run) but this is a mirage because their existence is marginal and precarious. Freedom is "first and foremost ... the absence of threat. A person who can be killed without any consequences for the killers is not free in the most important sense of the word” (Book One: Run) There must be a trade-off between autonomy and security. Junger and his friends may have no obligations to outsiders but to stay safe they have to become tightly interdependent, ceding personal freedom to the needs of the group. In the same way, the American pioneers as a group were tightly bound by a code of obligation to one another because each might need the other to help when the Indians (Native Americans) attacked. This is the same bargain as that made when joining a street gang: "The inside joke about freedom ... is that you’re always trading obedience to one thing for obedience to another.” (Book One: Run)
But surely hunter-gatherer societies are freer than others. Movement from place to place is, he suggests “subversive for the development of authority ... Adults of either sex can readily, if they choose, obtain enough food to feed themselves and are potentially autonomous.” (Book One: Run). His group of friends are like nomads but although they feel free he realises that “everything we needed—food, clothes, gear—came from the very thing we thought we were outwitting. ... Few people grow their own food or build their own homes, and no one—literally no one—refines their own gasoline, performs their own surgery, makes their own ball bearings, grinds their own eyeglass lenses, or manufactures their own electronics from scratch. Everyone—including people who vehemently oppose any form of federal government—depend on a sprawling supply chain that can only function with federal oversight, and most of them pay roughly one-third of their income in taxes for the right to participate in this system.” (Book One: Run)
Most people live as citizens of a nation state and have surrendered a part of their own freedom in return for prosperity within that state. Junger realises that, counter to the opinion that freedom means the freedom to make money, a society with a great discrepancy between the poor and the rich must have limited freedom for the poor (a wage slave is still a slave). “An important part of freedom is not having to make sacrifices for people who don’t have to make sacrifices for you.” (Book Three: Think)
Similarly, nations are prepared to bargain away some of their sovereignty in exchange for prosperity (as brought by mutual trading alliances) or security (achieved through common defence systems). Junger believes that in human societies the powerful cannot always prevail against the powerless, citing examples (eg Afghanistan) in which insurgencies have defeated powerful armies. He sees this as key to the development of international human rights which may curtail freedom but are essential to ensuring the freedom of citizens within societies.
The book is also a meditation on walking. I have done some long-distance walks (though much shorter than this one - up to 100 miles - and not sleeping rough but deliberately seeking out towns, hotels and restaurants as part of the experience) and I enjoyed this aspect of the book.
clareobrien92's review
3.0
Interesting and not too long. A little rambly and unexpectedly gory but some really interesting stories, like that of the last Yahi.
eliya's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
thoughtful, thorough musings of current events with historical context, it seemed like an essay or collection of three essays that the author wrote during or immediately following their hike/journey. i think it would spark incredible conversation.
sparked some interesting thoughts about political growth / evolution. i do not want to go on a journey with the boys i think.
sparked some interesting thoughts about political growth / evolution. i do not want to go on a journey with the boys i think.
zare_i's review
5.0
In a several years when all of the ruckus is behind us this book will be much more appreciated as a story that sums up at least last 20 years of constant mental play with minds of every person on this planet, constant gaslighting by contradictory news and information.
It is not like other author's works. This one has a feeling of more private diary into which one writes thoughts while going through a journey - physical or spiritual.
We follow author and his friends as they travel by foot from Eastern USA towards West, from Pennsylvania towards Ohio. They are all men who went through much, too much and they have taken this track as a way of escape from craziness of modern world, sort of a going back to the roots and attempt to keep their minds sane.
As they track and live off land and generosity of people they meet they are on constant lookout and avoiding authority [guarding against vagrants and guarding railroad installationss] they start to contemplate on people, individuals and states we have today. And what better symbol of technical progress and today's techno society than railroad - strong, visible and in plain sight (unlike planes or ships), actual bloodline of the civilization linking it and bringing every possible good and materiel wherever needed. Everything in the book happens around railroads, from author's tracking to stories about the people that lived and fought following the same paths railroads were built on.
In all of this atmosphere author starts writing his thoughts on people, humans, describing them in all their might and weakness. Evolved from the thousands of years of hard-ship humans have hardened themselves up physically and socially. I truly enjoyed chapters on human physical endurance, it was truly inspiring. Then we move from one time period to another - from native tribes of East Coast to settlers that were given chance to settle the Wild West in order to act as buffer in wild frontier - people who faced very short lives but endured. Today we might call them whatever we want because we are so far from the hardships they endured as we are away from walking strange planets in the deep space.
They had to live in hard circumstances but free from the state control and as it goes in such situations they encountered native tribes that followed the same philosophy. War between them was more than equal - guerilla fighters on both sides, equally bloodthirsty and equally savage in their attempts to protect their families. To talk about natives as mild, meek people would be an affront - these were people and tribes proud and ready and willing to conquer everything around them. In many ways unlike the colonists that were trying to carve their own piece of Heaven on Earth while escaping prosecution form their countries of origin.
And then author further develops discussion about the relation between freedom - in true sense, individual and close family - and community/state, social construct (ha!) made to make people safer and live more easily but with a price, rules and obligations that apply to all. Then we are taken to the role of leaders - and how unscrupulous always want the power but no obligation and how hard it is to to get true leaders to position of power (interestingly in most nomadic nations all true leaders have that oh so vilified streak of stoicism). As society grows author touches on aspect of dehumanization (you know that old, them fascists/conservatives/lefties/commies/stupid/fools/low-iq etc) in order to divide the people and get greater hold of larger populace and justify any kind of repression. Then we are given another aspect of human being, ideology and willingness to fight for the idea - from guerilla fighters in Americas west to urban chaos in Ireland. We are shown what is possible when people are united as were workers in US unions fighting the corporations and big business - how they were mowed down by state working hand in hand with above mentioned corporations but also how they finally got their satisfaction when laws were brought that broke the corporate hold on their lives.
Isn't it funny how economic injustice runs human societies to greatness. It looks like it is unbroken rule - when one creates society of opportunities it is impossible to guarantee the economical equality because to have economical equality one has to impose rules, restrictions and start treating people equally but in this case opportunities are lost because not everything can be made available to everyone. As author states it is those most nomadic societies that are most free and economically equal but they come with few drawbacks - they are always the most warlike ones and I would like to see people wanting to live their lifestyle, always surrounded by death and possibility to quickly perish due to lack of food and water. Not quite appealing, right?
I wont go into details any more but in this short book one will find various information on people, individuals and societies, their strengths and weaknesses, power of the human will (or spirit if you like) and many more. This is not book on one subject.
This is book on plethora of subjects that have boggled minds of many a man in the past and definitely will in future. Subjects that are becoming more actual today - in days when dehumanization and ad-hominem attacks are the only language public knows, respects and uses to explain everything around them, where we all become more and more dependent on the corporations that are working hand in hand with the state. Not to mention micro-dictators that have risen their heads in all corners of the world and that have no intention of relieving themselves of the power they have taken.
This is interesting book for interesting times, treat it like an index booklet referencing other works treating every subject in more detail.
It is strange in the most beautiful way. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
It is not like other author's works. This one has a feeling of more private diary into which one writes thoughts while going through a journey - physical or spiritual.
We follow author and his friends as they travel by foot from Eastern USA towards West, from Pennsylvania towards Ohio. They are all men who went through much, too much and they have taken this track as a way of escape from craziness of modern world, sort of a going back to the roots and attempt to keep their minds sane.
As they track and live off land and generosity of people they meet they are on constant lookout and avoiding authority [guarding against vagrants and guarding railroad installationss] they start to contemplate on people, individuals and states we have today. And what better symbol of technical progress and today's techno society than railroad - strong, visible and in plain sight (unlike planes or ships), actual bloodline of the civilization linking it and bringing every possible good and materiel wherever needed. Everything in the book happens around railroads, from author's tracking to stories about the people that lived and fought following the same paths railroads were built on.
In all of this atmosphere author starts writing his thoughts on people, humans, describing them in all their might and weakness. Evolved from the thousands of years of hard-ship humans have hardened themselves up physically and socially. I truly enjoyed chapters on human physical endurance, it was truly inspiring. Then we move from one time period to another - from native tribes of East Coast to settlers that were given chance to settle the Wild West in order to act as buffer in wild frontier - people who faced very short lives but endured. Today we might call them whatever we want because we are so far from the hardships they endured as we are away from walking strange planets in the deep space.
They had to live in hard circumstances but free from the state control and as it goes in such situations they encountered native tribes that followed the same philosophy. War between them was more than equal - guerilla fighters on both sides, equally bloodthirsty and equally savage in their attempts to protect their families. To talk about natives as mild, meek people would be an affront - these were people and tribes proud and ready and willing to conquer everything around them. In many ways unlike the colonists that were trying to carve their own piece of Heaven on Earth while escaping prosecution form their countries of origin.
And then author further develops discussion about the relation between freedom - in true sense, individual and close family - and community/state, social construct (ha!) made to make people safer and live more easily but with a price, rules and obligations that apply to all. Then we are taken to the role of leaders - and how unscrupulous always want the power but no obligation and how hard it is to to get true leaders to position of power (interestingly in most nomadic nations all true leaders have that oh so vilified streak of stoicism). As society grows author touches on aspect of dehumanization (you know that old, them fascists/conservatives/lefties/commies/stupid/fools/low-iq etc) in order to divide the people and get greater hold of larger populace and justify any kind of repression. Then we are given another aspect of human being, ideology and willingness to fight for the idea - from guerilla fighters in Americas west to urban chaos in Ireland. We are shown what is possible when people are united as were workers in US unions fighting the corporations and big business - how they were mowed down by state working hand in hand with above mentioned corporations but also how they finally got their satisfaction when laws were brought that broke the corporate hold on their lives.
Isn't it funny how economic injustice runs human societies to greatness. It looks like it is unbroken rule - when one creates society of opportunities it is impossible to guarantee the economical equality because to have economical equality one has to impose rules, restrictions and start treating people equally but in this case opportunities are lost because not everything can be made available to everyone. As author states it is those most nomadic societies that are most free and economically equal but they come with few drawbacks - they are always the most warlike ones and I would like to see people wanting to live their lifestyle, always surrounded by death and possibility to quickly perish due to lack of food and water. Not quite appealing, right?
I wont go into details any more but in this short book one will find various information on people, individuals and societies, their strengths and weaknesses, power of the human will (or spirit if you like) and many more. This is not book on one subject.
This is book on plethora of subjects that have boggled minds of many a man in the past and definitely will in future. Subjects that are becoming more actual today - in days when dehumanization and ad-hominem attacks are the only language public knows, respects and uses to explain everything around them, where we all become more and more dependent on the corporations that are working hand in hand with the state. Not to mention micro-dictators that have risen their heads in all corners of the world and that have no intention of relieving themselves of the power they have taken.
This is interesting book for interesting times, treat it like an index booklet referencing other works treating every subject in more detail.
It is strange in the most beautiful way. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
pio_near's review
4.0
More of a collection of 3 essays looking at Freedom from different perspectives, Junger outlines the way freedom has shaped humanity's movements, their fighting spirit, and the way we think.
revawra's review
3.0
As someone who has taken the Amtrak through PA more than a few times, I could see the tracks Junger was walking. Many of the towns mentioned I’ve spent more than a few days. So there’s a nostalgia that endears me to the book.
He seems to lose himself partway through - the Fight section feels weakest - but I appreciate a different take on conceptions of freedom.
The value of the approach is clear - freedom excels in its irony. The more free we feel, the less likely we are. There is always something to which we are beholden. Inequity can be motivating, too much or too little destabilizing. That too many folks become nigh masturbatory on political snuff proves why Junger’s book is valuable. Because whatever folks in their star-spangled Spanx are arguing fReEdOm is, it ain’t true.
However, the books seems to collapse under its own weight, trying to be memoir, history and philosophy at the same time, and doing it in a slim volume. A softer touch or some more content would have helped.
He seems to lose himself partway through - the Fight section feels weakest - but I appreciate a different take on conceptions of freedom.
The value of the approach is clear - freedom excels in its irony. The more free we feel, the less likely we are. There is always something to which we are beholden. Inequity can be motivating, too much or too little destabilizing. That too many folks become nigh masturbatory on political snuff proves why Junger’s book is valuable. Because whatever folks in their star-spangled Spanx are arguing fReEdOm is, it ain’t true.
However, the books seems to collapse under its own weight, trying to be memoir, history and philosophy at the same time, and doing it in a slim volume. A softer touch or some more content would have helped.
almartin's review
4.0
In the summer of 2002 I hiked for ~50 miles in central PA, chosen because it was where I had lived from ages ~6 weeks to ~3 years in a farmhouse along the AT. It was rocky and hot and serene and beautiful. I don't remember gaining any particular life wisdom from the experience, aside from maybe "don't ever drink water from a garden hose, turns out garden hoses get moldy and nasty."
Sebastian Junger did 300 miles from DC up to Philly, because - well, he never really explains. many of the more memorable scenes in Freedom are in and around the same country, near Harrisburg and along the Juniata. He has a lot more to say about the arc of human history and the Western frontier than I did after the experience (also he gets shot at a LOT more than I did.)
Odd little book. Five stars for, as other reviewers noted, doing an updated and absolutely electric Walden pond, think-about-society-from-the-woods thing. Lose a star for a general [citation needed] approach to historical narrative that pervades. Maybe lose another star if Junger's arc from afghanistan documentary film guy to joe rogan podcast guy continues?
Sebastian Junger did 300 miles from DC up to Philly, because - well, he never really explains. many of the more memorable scenes in Freedom are in and around the same country, near Harrisburg and along the Juniata. He has a lot more to say about the arc of human history and the Western frontier than I did after the experience (also he gets shot at a LOT more than I did.)
Odd little book. Five stars for, as other reviewers noted, doing an updated and absolutely electric Walden pond, think-about-society-from-the-woods thing. Lose a star for a general [citation needed] approach to historical narrative that pervades. Maybe lose another star if Junger's arc from afghanistan documentary film guy to joe rogan podcast guy continues?