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Sebastian Junger

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Sebastian Junger is an American journalist, author and filmmaker. He is noted for his book The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea, a creative nonfiction work which became a bestseller; and for his documentary films Restrepo and Korengal, which won awards.
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We Cannot Escape History book cover
We Cannot Escape History
John T (John Thompson) 19 Whitaker - 2021-09-10
This culturally important work has been selected by scholars and is part of our civilization's knowledge base. It is available in the public domain in the US and other nations, allowing free distribution and copy. Its importance convinced scholars to preserve, reproduce, and make it available for readers to enjoy. Thanks to a seamless blend of original graphical elements and easy-to-read text, your reading experience will be of high quality. Support the preservation process to keep this knowledge alive and relevant.
Sebastian Junger
2022-11-06T23:03:10.000Z
@bill_muras @MarkHertling @gtconway3d Whitaker's book is almost unknown and one of the most brilliant pieces of political reporting Ive ever read. My father fled Spain in 1936 and lived a lot of what Whitaker reported on. I quoted him in this piece about the rise of fascism in Spain:      source
What We Inherit book cover
What We Inherit
A Secret War and a Family's Search for Answers
Jessica Pearce Rotondi - 2020-04-21
Goodreads Rating
"What We Inherit" is a gripping memoir that explores the power of a family secret that encompassed an entire war. After her mother's death, Jessica Pearce Rotondi uncovers a family ghost: her uncle Jack, who disappeared during the CIA-led Secret War in Laos in 1972. Through her investigation, Rotondi excavates inherited trauma on a personal and national scale, and reveals the destructive impact of a family secret. This book is a haunting chronicle of loss and redemption that will move readers to the core.
Sebastian Junger
2020-04-25T01:32:08.000Z
hey everyone, this is a pretty incredible book by an amazing young writer about her search for a relative who was shot down in Vietnam and never found. I highly recommend it...      source
Our Political Nature book cover
Our Political Nature
The Evolutionary Origins of What Divides Us
Avi Tuschman - 2013-09-03
Goodreads Rating
The first book to tell the natural history of political orientations. ...
Sebastian Junger
2017-06-11T23:23:37.000Z
@40PercentGerman my error it was 'our political nature' by avi tuschman one of the most amazing books I've ever read      source
Thieves of State book cover
Thieves of State
Why Corruption Threatens Global Security
Sarah Chayes - 2016-03-07 (first published in 2015)
Goodreads Rating
"Thieves of State" by Sarah Chayes delves into the connection between corrupt governments and international security crises. With insights from the Afghanistan war and historical research, Chayes identifies corruption as a pervasive threat that drives populations to extremes, causing radicalization and militant puritanical religion. She makes a compelling case that corruption should be confronted as it is a cause of global instability, rather than a result. This thrilling argument connects the Protestant Reformation to the Arab Spring and presents a powerful new way to understand global extremism.
Sebastian Junger
2016-06-05T00:00:00.000Z
Chayes' thesis here is both radical and incredibly obvious: Corruption is the common denominator among societies where radical Islam is ascendant. ISIS, the Taliban, Somalia's al-Shabab, and Nigeria's Boko Haram all gained footholds, we're told, because they promised to eradicate the corruption of despotic regimes. If this is so, corruption should be our target, too.      source
Empire of the Summer Moon book cover
Empire of the Summer Moon
Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
S. C. Gwynne - 2010-05-25
Goodreads Rating
A gripping and meticulously researched historical account of the 40-year battle between the all-powerful Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West. Spanning Spanish colonialism, the Civil War, and the destruction of the buffalo herds, this fascinating narrative centers on Quanah, the greatest Comanche chief of them all, and his pioneer mother Cynthia Ann Parker, who was kidnapped at age 9 and grew to love her Comanche captors. S. C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon is a thrilling epic that offers a historical feast for anyone interested in the origins of the United States.
Sebastian Junger
2016-06-05T00:00:00.000Z
This book recounts how the Comanche, through extraordinary fighting and survival skills, succeeded longer than any other Native American group in blocking white society's intrusion on their land. Central to the story is Quanah Parker, a mixed-race war leader whose white mother was captured by the Comanche as a teenager.      source
Radical Hope book cover
Radical Hope
Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation
Jonathan Lear - 2006-09-22
Goodreads Rating
Radical Hope explores the ethical inquiry of how to face the possibility of a collapsing culture. Using the history of Indian tribes and drawing on philosophy and psychoanalytic theory, the book delves into the story of the Crow Nation at an impasse, raising profound questions that challenge us all. It's a moving, philosophical inquiry into a unique vulnerability that affects all civilizations and goes to the heart of the human condition.
Sebastian Junger
2016-06-05T00:00:00.000Z
How does a society survive the complete collapse of its economic and ethical systems? Lear, a philosopher and historian, explains how the radical vision of Chief Plenty Coups saved his fellow Crow from physical and spiritual annihilation in the 1870s. This is one of the most profound and exciting books I have ever read.      source
Suttree book cover
Suttree
Cormac McCarthy - 1992-05-01 (first published in 1979)
Goodreads Rating
A tale of survival and wit, centered around an exiled man living alone in a disintegrating houseboat on the outskirts of Knoxville. Suttree navigates the poverty-stricken and criminal community around him with a detachment and humor that allow him to rise above the squalor of his environment.
Sebastian Junger
2016-06-05T00:00:00.000Z
A former professor living on a Tennessee River houseboat ekes out a livelihood selling his catch, then drinks away his profits with Knoxville's misfits and miscreants. McCarthy's prose is ancient and exact and mythic, and his portrait of America's underbelly in the 1950s is shocking in its depiction of human degradation.      source
Sapiens book cover
Sapiens
A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari - 2015-01-01 (first published in 2011)
Goodreads Rating
Discover the story of human history, from the first humans to walk the earth to today's modern society. Explore how we came to believe in gods, nations, and human rights, and how our societies were shaped by the Cognitive, Agricultural, and Scientific Revolutions. Sapiens covers it all, using insights from biology, anthropology, paleontology, and economics to challenge our beliefs about what it means to be human. Are we happier now than we were before? Can we change our behavior and influence the future? Dr. Yuval Noah Harari's provocative and wide-ranging book will challenge the way you think about our species and our place in the world.
Sebastian Junger
I’m going to give Sapiens over and over again to everyone I know.      source
At Play in the Fields of the Lord book cover
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
Peter Matthiessen - 1991-12-03 (first published in 1965)
Goodreads Rating
This thrilling novel is set in the South American rainforest, where two foreigners clash over the conversion or killing of a group of elusive Indians. The story is full of moral exploration and political themes, making for a thought-provoking read.
Sebastian Junger
The book that I have given to others most often as a gift.      source