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Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Sebastian Junger on the Human Urge to Be Part of a 'Tribe'

Most of us in the modern world don’t have to worry about starvation or invading armies.  We don’t need to be part of a tribe in order to survive and we don’t need to sacrifice for the common good. Could that be why there are so many problems in American society, from school shootings to drug addiction to PTSD?

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By Madeleine Brand • Jun 8, 2016 • 1 min read

Most of us in the modern world don’t have to worry about starvation or invading armies. We don’t need to be part of a tribe in order to survive and we don’t need to sacrifice for the common good. Could that be why there are so many problems in American society, from school shootings to drug addiction to PTSD? That’s the idea in a new book by Sebastian Junger called, “Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging.” Junger has been a foreign correspondent and has written a lot about combat and adversity; and in Tribe, he writes that combat and adversity can actually be good things – they can knit people together and give them a sense of purpose and comfort.

  • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

    Madeleine Brand

    Host, 'Press Play'

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    Matt Holzman

    Producer, 'The Document'

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    Anna Scott

    Former KCRW Housing and Homelessness Reporter

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    Jolie Myers

    Managing Producer, 'Press Play'

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    Sebastian Junger

    Author

    News
Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand