Sebastian Junger sitting leaning against a fence, looking at the camera
“Humans don’t mind hardship. In fact, they thrive on it. What they mind is not feeling necessary.” —Sebastian Junger

(Amherst, Mass.)—Award-winning author, journalist and filmmaker Sebastian Junger will explore a host of issues related to what we can learn from tribal societies about loyalty, belonging, and the eternal quest for meaning in a public event at Amherst College on Tuesday, Nov. 14. The talk shares the title as his 2016 book, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging and will take place on campus at 8 p.m. in Johnson Chapel. It is free and open to the public. 

Junger’s book draws on history, psychology and anthropology to explain why coming together makes us stronger and how that can be achieved, even in today’s divided world. Despite the fact that this kind of connection seems to have been largely lost in modern society, he believes that regaining a sense of closeness may be the key to our psychological survival. 

“Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging”
A Talk by Sebastian Junger
Tuesday, November 14, 8 p.m.
Johnson Chapel, Amherst College

Junger is also author of The Perfect Storm, Fire, A Death in Belmont and War. An award-winning journalist, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and a special correspondent at ABC News, he has covered major international news stories and has received a National Magazine Award and a Peabody Award. His debut film Restrepo, a feature-length documentary (co-directed with Tim Hetherington), was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.   

Junger has also written extensively for magazines. His reporting on Afghanistan in 2000 became the subject of the National Geographic documentary Into the Forbidden Zone and introduced America to the Afghan resistance fighting the Taliban. 

He lives in New York City and on Cape Cod.

Read more about the event in the Amherst College Calendar.