In this episode of The Ask we to speak to Peabody awarded journalist, bestselling author and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sebastian Junger about his latest book: FREEDOM.

About the book:

In part based on an epic trip Sebastian undertook with three friends to walk the rail lines from Washington DC to Pittsburgh, Freedom is a deep dive into history, anthropology, sociology, psychology and sports science that asks the question:

What does it truly mean to be free?

What does it take to fight for it?

And what does it take to keep it?

Our Episode Guest:

Sebastian Junger is the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of THE PERFECT STORM, FIRE, A DEATH IN BELMONT, WAR, TRIBE and FREEDOM.   As an award-winning journalist, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and a special correspondent at ABC News, he has covered major international news stories around the world, and has received both a National Magazine Award and a Peabody Award. Junger is also a documentary filmmaker whose 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.   

“Restrepo,” which chronicled the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, is widely considered to have broken new ground in war reporting.  Junger has since produced and directed three additional documentaries about war and its aftermath. “Which Way Is The Front Line From Here?”, which premiered on HBO, chronicles the life and career of his friend and colleague, photojournalist Tim Hetherington, who was killed while covering the civil war in Libya in 2011.  “Korengal” returns to the subject of combat and tries to answer the eternal question of why young men miss war.   “The Last Patrol”, which also premiered on HBO, examines the complexities of returning from war by following Junger and three friends–all of whom had experienced combat, either as soldiers or reporters–as they travel up the East Coast railroad lines on foot as “high-speed vagrants.”

He is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and has been awarded a National Magazine Award and an SAIS Novartis Prize for journalism. He lives in New York City

Our Episode Guest Co-Host:

Cliff W. Gilmore, PhD, an honorably retired U.S. Marine Corps officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Cliff holds a doctorate in organization and management with a specialization in leadership, strategic and crisis communication, and media relations.

Cliff now lives with his wife and ten-year-old daughter in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he is a writer, consultant, and leadership coach.

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