“People love to believe they’re free, though, which is hard to achieve in a society that has outsourced virtually all of the tasks needed for survival.” – Sebastian Junger, FREEDOM
Freedom is defined as the power or right to act and speak as we want. In Sebastian Junger’s new book, FREEDOM, we read how freedom may also be the ability to move, be anonymous, and be (somewhat) autonomous over the course of a roughly 400-mile vagrant’s hike along the railroad. Junger describes it as one of the more difficult physical feats, with the intensity, exhaustion, and maneuvering required.
Junger is as a triple-threat – war correspondent, documentary filmmaker, and author. Most of his works cross over into the other, and FREEDOM is no exception – it takes many of the notes and ideas he developed during a trek also addressed in his documentary The Last Patrol. Well-known across the military community for his films and writing, his latest book was just released and is our June ClearanceJobs Book Club pick.
Interested in reading with us? The first 10 people to email lindy.kyzer@clearancejobs.com will get a free copy of FREEDOM.
Junger’s writing has been described like Thoreau or Hemingway – not to set the bar high, or anything. Critics have to make comparisons, and I can think of worse, for sure. FREEDOM is a book based on a personal quest that doesn’t get addressed until the final pages. The ultimate dinner party book, you leave FREEDOM with a lot to discuss and a trail of historical and sociological tidbits you can impress your friends with.
There’s no lack of irony about a book addressing FREEDOM of movement at the exact moment many Americans are exiting at least some period of lock down. They’re calling it ‘the great reunion.’ For the entire country, the questions of FREEDOM are ones we’ve been asking for the past year – what is the cost of freedom? How much autonomy are we willing to give up for the ‘greater good?’ Are we willing to accept the costs and limitations of community?
“The idea that we can enjoy the benefits of society while owing nothing in return is literally infantile. Only children owe nothing,” Junger writes.
For the next 100 pages of this blissfully short book, Junger addresses that notion and others. Movement. Autonomy. The fights over both. Endurance. Resistance. Loyalty. What it means to be human. It sets a meandering trail through history and current events, at a time when many Americans are already taking to the trails to find something that looks like freedom. Traffic on the Appalachian Trail, for instance, is at a record high. After a year of social distancing, we’re reexamining what it means to be free, and the pull of independence versus interdependence. Can we fill our cups with media consumption, or do we need something more?
Run, fight and think your way through Junger’s FREEDOM with us this June. As America embraces its ‘new normal’ there may be no better word to consider.
