Only 3-Word Review on video:

“Therefore I read this book as an introduction, a quick provocation, to a larger challenge for us to consider the rituals that bind us more cogently, build them where needed…”

I’ve long been a fan of Junger’s journalism and perspective: he is one of my “go to” writers, and I’ve never missed being enlightened by one his books. This is no exception. His argument that Western civilization–but the US in particular–must become conscious of fulfilling a more tribal instinct to satisfy us, to reduce our anxieties and isolation, our PTSD and suicides, our poverty and distrust, is fairly sensible, though difficult for us to enact habitually with conscientiousness; our culture too easily pushes us in the other direction. What surprised me with this work was its scale. Junger takes on an enormous cultural shift with truly our identity and even survival in the balance, but limits his writing to personal anecdotes and the broader studies suggested by them in a mere brief 100 pages or so. For instance, while he consistently cites psychological impacts, he does not reflect even momentarily on various symbolic rituals which we enact which might count as tribal: soccer team fandom, for instance, and displacements for combat. Surely we have some models to follow or revise. 

Therefore I read this book as an introduction, a quick provocation, to a larger challenge for us to consider the rituals that bind us more cogently, build them where needed, and in so doing perhaps reject empty mannerisms of support and replace them with genuine community.

Follow-up with 2nd Reading: I largely hold to my first review, with the added thought that Junger’s leaning upon instinctual behaviors dating back to early civilizations and upon war and suffering as pivotal cases where community is strengthened, seem problematic. First, while early civilizational ritual and experience may currently condition contemporary struggles, determinism based upon such times closes off change, growth, and healthier conditions. I don’t believe Junger intends this; but the preponderance of combat-ready case studies vs peacetime communal rituals in other cultures leaves this as a dangerous conclusion to draw. (He does draw just this sort of claim, for instance, in characterizing the breadth of US political arguments in a single paragraph as based upon tribal conditions More, while his studies and discoveries are striking, they on their own do little against the complexity of war systemically, sociologically, psychologically. The differences between PTSD conditions and statistics across generations, countries, and wars, for instance, may be attributable to hundreds of variables that are neither hinted at in this text nor considered in his conclusions (i.e. changing diagnoses, political motivations, severity ranges). So while I tend to agree with Junger’s broader conclusions and vision, I still look at this book as an introduction to some essential questions which our culture must be brave enough to ask ourselves.