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dodaheem 's review for:
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging
by Sebastian Junger
Phenomenal book, well written and researched (of course). As always, Junger delivers, but we never quite really know exactly what will be delivered. This fairly quick read is insightful and gets into some territory that may make a lot of people uncomfortable, but explains how being left alone, unattacked, may be our nation's enemies' greatest strategy. We join together and form tribes when attacked. After 9/11, for example, people banded together and crime plummeted. As we are, comfortable, fat, and happy, with minimal real external threats to our well-being, we disintegrate. Social systems break down, dog-eat-dog capitalism and competition takes over, and we have no sense that we owe each other anything. One of the sweetest "Aha!" moments of the book was about the litter we see along the highways and in the neighborhoods. The dog crap on our yards shows that our neighbors have no sense that they owe us the courtesy of cleaning up after their supposedly beloved pet. All liberty and no responsibility is the condition of tyrants and two-year olds, but it is increasingly what we see in our communities, roadways, and especially ourselves. Much of this was insights I was familiar with, but the way Junger structures the information is clear and persuasive. He refuses to take sides in a us/them social or political battle because it's always ultimately us/us.