Tribe by Sebastian Junger: book review

Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging (2016) is not a novel – it is a non-fiction essay that encompasses history, psychology, anthropology, conflict, disorder, survival, sense of community, and tribalism. It is both an answer to a question, and a personal disentanglement of ideas and opinions. Author of four other books, including The Perfect Storm (2009) and War (2010), I think this one is Junger’s best.

Tribe focuses on trauma and why people band together and unite during times of war, disaster, and catastrophe. It focus on why peace time separates individuals, leaving them isolated, community-bereft, and disenfranchized. It focuses on suicide and depression, on loss and loneliness, yet also on connectedness and solidarity.

Although short, every word has impact. This is not a rambling piece of thought, but an examinination of people’s core needs and responses, and a demonstration of succint thinking points. Each point that Junger makes drills down to the consciousness of people and how they react during hardships and in good times – and up springs precious pools of knowledge.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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