The Importance of Freedom

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

You don't talk much in the book about yourself. There's one moment at the end of the trip where you break down a little bit. You do not reflect on what it was like to spend an extended period of time with a small group of people that you kind of created out of thin air. But I didn't want us to become the sort of like central characters in this. America is the central character. And freedom is the centralcharacter.

Journalist and author Sebastian Junger talks about his book, Freedom, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. The book and conversation are based on a 400-mile walk Junger took with buddies along railroad rights-of-way, evading police, railroad security, and other wanderers. Junger discusses the ever-present tension between the human desire to be free and the desire to be interconnected and part of something. Along the way, Junger talks about the joy of walking, the limits of human endurance, war, and why the more powerful, better-equipped military isn't always the winner.