Poaching

Combining history, psychology and anthropology, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by award-winning journalist Sebastian Junger focuses specifically on the problem American veterans and American society faces today — the breakdown of our communities and our “Tribe.”

National Geographic Explorer correspondent Justin Hall ventures into Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a candid look at a region in conflict over the park’s valuable but endangered natural resources in The Battle for Virunga.

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Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by award-winning journalist Sebastian Junger explores what we can learn from tribal societies about loyalty, belonging, and the eternal human quest for meaning. It explains the irony that—for many veterans as well as civilians—war feels better than peace, adversity can turn out to be a blessing, and disasters are sometimes remembered more fondly than weddings or tropical vacations. Perhaps most importantly, it explains why we are stronger when we come together, and how that can be achieved even in today’s divided world. Sebastian is a New York Times Bestselling author, 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.

In terms of natural resources, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Yet, over 50 percent of the country’s population lives on less than $1.25 per day. For the 4 million desperately poor residents living in and around Virunga National Park, the park’s borders are an arbitrary distinction, and conservation is just another term for the rich and powerful taking the best for themselves. Armed militias also use the park and its vast resources as a means of power in an ongoing and bloody regional conflict. In The Battle for Virunga National Geographic Explorer correspondent Justin Hall ventures into Virunga to meet park director Emmanuelle de Merode and veteran park ranger Innocent Mburanumwe for a candid interview about the rebel groups and militias roaming the park’s jungles, the slaughter of the park’s protected species, the Western oil giants seeking to extract the park’s vast resources and the park rangers who have been murdered in the line of duty.

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