Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging
In Tribe, journalist and war reporter Sebastian Junger blends anthropology, psychology, and reporting from combat zones to ask why so many soldiers miss war after they come home. He looks at colonial Americans who ran off to join Native tribes, London under the Blitz, and small units in Afghanistan to argue that humans are wired for shared risk and close community, and that modern life often deprives us of both. The book is short and cuts across topics, but the central claim is consistent, that many mental health struggles among veterans are less about combat itself than about the loss of a tribe when they return. Junger writes clearly and expects the reader to follow the argument across cultures and centuries.
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What you might want to know about Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Sebastian Junger argues that modern society's affluence and isolation cost humans something essential and asks what returning veterans can teach us about belonging.
No. It uses veterans as one of its main lenses, but the book's real subject is community, belonging, and why affluent modern societies often produce more mental distress than poorer, closer knit ones.
It is short, under two hundred pages, and can be read in a couple of sittings, which is part of why it has become so widely recommended.
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging was written by Sebastian Junger, published in 2016 by Twelve.
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging is 192 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging takes most readers 3 to 4 hours to finish.
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.