3.5 Someone on GR described this short book as more a collection of three long essays than a unified whole. That sounds about right. Junger's a very good writer, no question about it. I'm struggling to find a way to talk about this book. The first thing that came to mind was, think Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" then take away all the humor, slapstick, buffoonery and... never mind. Think of a different book entirely. No, I'll go with the word "virile." This is a book that feels like parts of it

I heard Sebastian Junger on the Joe Rogan podcast, and found him to be fairly interesting. Junger has written several several books, some of them rather well known, though I haven't read any of them. In his most recent book, Freedom, Junger plays with the ideas of individualism vs community and freedom vs oppression. He uses some rather obscure anecdotes to show how humans, unlike other animals, can defeat larger and more powerful individual or groups and how that is necessary for freedom.I list...

I honestly have no idea what this book was supposed to be about. It was sort of just all over the place. Part of it is Sebastian Junger talking about his experiences walking the railroad lines along the east coast. I actually found that part of interesting and wish the whole book was about doing that and the people he met along the way. That is only a small piece of the book though. The rest of the book is just him writing about seemingly random stuff. I'm guessing in some way everything is supp...

I really love Junger's other books, Tribe, especially. I just didn't get the point of this one. I think I understand what he wanted to accomplish but it didn't work for me.

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.

I loved Junger’s “Tribe,” so jumped at the chance to read this title as soon as it came out. The reviews have been quite critical of its seeming lack of focus and meandering style, but I thought that was partly the point. Who knows what freedom is? How do you even define such a concept? To find out, Junger spends an unspecified amount of time wandering through undeveloped lands along the nation’s eastern railroad tracks and making camp wherever he finds himself. It’s a literal exercise in freedo...

In this collection, Junger explores the idea of freedom and community - how we value independence and individuality, but rely on others for many of our needs. Junger, a fellow war journalist, and 2 vets from the Afghan war, spend time walking the railroad lines of the East Coast, their days drilled down to walk, eat, hide, and sleep. This journey provides the framework for Junger's reflections on freedom. The book essentially consists of 3 essays - Run, Fight, and Think. In each, he looks at the...

This book. This little book is as grand, ambitious, poetic, and pretentious as Walden, and as maddeningly meandering as Stargirl's mesmerizing "I Might Have Heard a Moa" speech:Like a butterfly, her words fluttered from image to image [...] She touched on silver lunch trucks and designer labels and enchanted places [...] It was a jumble, it was a mishmash, and somehow she pulled it all together, somehow she threaded every different thing through the voice of a solitary mockingbird singing in the...

America claims to revere it, political parties all claim it, and Mel Gibson’s William Wallace yells it, but Junger seemingly just wants to sense it. Freedom is a meandering mix of vagabond tourism, historical references, and sociology. It has almost a deliberate lack of structure possibly mimicking the freedom theme itself. Contrasted with the irony of being literally railroaded down a path.Junger walks the rails in Pennsylvania with a small group of others. In these lanes of corporate ownership...

Probably closer to 4.5 stars but I am an acolyte of Junger’s and am always thrilled to read his every written word.

Sebastian Junger's Freedom is a well written and engrossing extended essay on the concept and history of freedom interspersed with an equally interesting accounting of a long trek, which he referred to as "the Last Patrol", through Pennsylvania. The book is extremely well researched and, except for the trek, well documented. Many bits of information are stunning: "...it was the Apache's ability to cross terrain quickly and invisibly that allowed fourteen generations to remain outside the control...

Five stars for its unique story and the connections he draws from it for his expose on "Freedom". This very short book, really an essay, is so unique I would think everyone would enjoy it but for the most curmudgeonly. He really made me think about the concept of "Freedom" in profound depth. It is a story of hiking along rail lines mixed with political philosophy.

Good, short book which explains what it takes to be free, how much man can be free and what freedom meant in many parts of the world. I didn't understand lyrical part of this essay, but I feel it's more a play on American heart of free spirit, so I didn't mind it. Ofcourse it's not comprehesive book about this topic, but writing which is more friendly to reader and I enjoyed it even if it's guilty pleasure.

3.5 An meandering exposition on what freedom means to different people and cultures. Over a year, off and on, Junger with 8 different people, follows the railroad line from DC to Western Pa. The people he meets, the hardships he encounters, nature, and musing on the freedom sought by the first settlers, the native Americans be others.Essays really, there is no set format to this book, as he wanders talking about what he sees, encounters, his mind also wanders to history and other things. I enjoy...

An interesting story of a year spent wandering the modern wilderness along rail lines on the east coast. What is freedom, after all? Of course, it's easier to just take off from civilization when the day-to-day worried about responsibilities such as family or working a job where you can't write about wandering about. Still, a lot to digest and I recommend the read. I find I have to get out in nature- and not the park, but deep woods, every so often, of I start to lose touch with life.

“The struggle of any civilization is balancing order and liberty.”* This was the epigraph from The Story of England: The Age of Chivalry by Arthur Bryant. While I have long forgotten most of the contents to the book, that little aphorism has stayed with me and seems at the heart of Junger’s excellent essay.*I can’t remember the source or the verbatim quote. I no longer have the book as I lost it in one of my moves. If someone has it, could you please send me the exact quote. Thanks.)A lot of rev...

A bit of an odd book, very short, partly a memoir of hiking and camping with a group of friends along railroad tracks in Pennsylvania, partly mini essays about freedom, politics, history, anthropology, war and violence, and railroads. I’ve enjoyed other books of his, but part of me holds back a bit, I don’t always trust what I’m reading. But it’s interesting and thought provoking. I guess some of this was turned into an HBO documentary but I think the book and the documentary aren’t exactly para...

If you read this book purely as literal nonfiction, you will miss its value. Junger is reviving a form of descriptive commentary I used to love from the likes Wendell Berry or Thoreau. Reading this book with a poet's eye for metaphor creates some striking images that force us all to understand what Freedom really is.Is Freedom the absence of oppression? The maximization of options? Money? Power? Or is poverty perhaps the ultimate form of freedom? In a world when most of our survival needs are ou...

Overall, not a fan. I liked the idea of the book but feel it was not executed well. The narratives aren't woven together as the blurb claims; rather, it's a stream of consciousness at best and rambling at worst. As I was reading, I kept wondering whether the author is having a midlife crisis--which it seems he is! Much of the history presented throughout this book is shockingly oversimplified, misinterpreted, and even downright incorrect. Even some of the correct facts are taken out of context a...

Fascinating survey of the meanings and quests for Freedom.By setting his tale in a harsh 400 mile trek his small group of combat-hardened men slogged through unforgiving terrain and worse weather, Junger creates a metaphor for the undying human attempt to define Freedom and build a Society built on it.His examples running through the book range from Scythian Nomads, Indian Tribesmen and Irish Rebel Women to Immigrant Steelworker Union Workers striking for better treatment. By telling their stori...