Overview

During the Civil War, 620,000 soldiers lost their lives-equivalent to six million in today's population. This Republic of Suffering explores the impact of the enormous death toll from material, political, intellectual, and spiritual angles. Drew Gilpin Faust delineates the ways death changed not only individual lives, but the life of the nation, and describes how a deeply religious culture reconciled the slaughter with its belief in a benevolent God. Throughout, the viewpoints of soldiers, families, statesmen, generals, preachers, poets, surgeons, and nurses, Northerners and Southerners, slaveholders and freed people, the most exalted, and the most humble are brought together to give a vivid understanding of the Civil War's widely shared reality.

Full Product Details

9781433233425

Table of Contents

Reviews

A moving work of social history, detailing how the Civil War changed perceptions and behaviors about death...An illuminating study. -- Kirkus Reviews Beautifully written, honest, and penetrating...Anyone wanting to understand the 'real war' and its transcendent meaning must face the facts Faust arrays before us...Essential. -- Library Journal If you read only one book on the Civil War this year, make it this one. -- American History Eloquent and imaginative, Ms. Faust's book takes a grim topic--how America coped with the massive death toll from the Civil War--and makes it fresh and exciting...[A] widely and justly praised scholarly history. -- New York Observer The beauty and originality of Faust's book is that it shows how thoroughly the work of mourning became the business of capitalism, merchandised throughout a society. -- New Yorker This Republic of Suffering is one of those groundbreaking histories in which a crucial piece of the past, previously overlooked or misunderstood, suddenly clicks into focus. -- Newsweek Faust...yanks aside the usual veil of history to look narrowly at life's intimate level for new perspectives from the past. She focuses on ordinary lives under extreme duress, which makes for compelling reading. -- USA Today Extraordinary...overlooks nothing--from the unsettling enthusiasm some men showed for killing to the near-universal struggle for an answer to the question posed by the Confederate poet Sidney Lanier: 'How does God have the heart to allow it?' -- New York Times Book Review Lorna Raver's...reserved manner fits the somber topic, and her unhurried pace allows listeners to assimilate every word. With great versatility she bounces from describing the mourning garments of nineteenth-century widows to reciting the contemporary poetry of Emily Dickinson. Raver's best moments come as she reads the letters of worried relatives seeking knowledge of the status and whereabouts of soldiers they fear may be dead. -- AudioFile [A] penetrating study...Faust exhumes a wealth of material--condolence letters, funeral sermons, ads for mourning dresses, poems and stories from Civil War-era writers--to flesh out her lucid account. The result is an insightful, often moving portrait of a people torn by grief. -- Publishers Weekly This Republic of Suffering is a harrowing but fascinating read. -- Christian Science Monitor

This Republic of Suffering is a harrowing but fascinating read. -- Christian Science Monitor [A] penetrating study...Faust exhumes a wealth of material--condolence letters, funeral sermons, ads for mourning dresses, poems and stories from Civil War-era writers--to flesh out her lucid account. The result is an insightful, often moving portrait of a people torn by grief. -- Publishers Weekly Lorna Raver's...reserved manner fits the somber topic, and her unhurried pace allows listeners to assimilate every word. With great versatility she bounces from describing the mourning garments of nineteenth-century widows to reciting the contemporary poetry of Emily Dickinson. Raver's best moments come as she reads the letters of worried relatives seeking knowledge of the status and whereabouts of soldiers they fear may be dead. -- AudioFile Extraordinary...overlooks nothing--from the unsettling enthusiasm some men showed for killing to the near-universal struggle for an answer to the question posed by the Confederate poet Sidney Lanier: 'How does God have the heart to allow it?' -- New York Times Book Review Faust...yanks aside the usual veil of history to look narrowly at life's intimate level for new perspectives from the past. She focuses on ordinary lives under extreme duress, which makes for compelling reading. -- USA Today This Republic of Suffering is one of those groundbreaking histories in which a crucial piece of the past, previously overlooked or misunderstood, suddenly clicks into focus. -- Newsweek The beauty and originality of Faust's book is that it shows how thoroughly the work of mourning became the business of capitalism, merchandised throughout a society. -- New Yorker Eloquent and imaginative, Ms. Faust's book takes a grim topic--how America coped with the massive death toll from the Civil War--and makes it fresh and exciting...[A] widely and justly praised scholarly history. -- New York Observer If you read only one book on the Civil War this year, make it this one. -- American History Beautifully written, honest, and penetrating...Anyone wanting to understand the 'real war' and its transcendent meaning must face the facts Faust arrays before us...Essential. -- Library Journal A moving work of social history, detailing how the Civil War changed perceptions and behaviors about death...An illuminating study. -- Kirkus Reviews

A moving work of social history, detailing how the Civil War changed perceptions and behaviors about death...An illuminating study. -- Kirkus Reviews Beautifully written, honest, and penetrating...Anyone wanting to understand the 'real war' and its transcendent meaning must face the facts Faust arrays before us...Essential. -- Library Journal Lorna Raver's...reserved manner fits the somber topic, and her unhurried pace allows listeners to assimilate every word. With great versatility she bounces from describing the mourning garments of nineteenth-century widows to reciting the contemporary poetry of Emily Dickinson. Raver's best moments come as she reads the letters of worried relatives seeking knowledge of the status and whereabouts of soldiers they fear may be dead. -- AudioFile [A] penetrating study...Faust exhumes a wealth of material--condolence letters, funeral sermons, ads for mourning dresses, poems and stories from Civil War-era writers--to flesh out her lucid account. The result is an insightful, often moving portrait of a people torn by grief. -- Publishers Weekly If you read only one book on the Civil War this year, make it this one. -- American History This Republic of Suffering is a harrowing but fascinating read. -- Christian Science Monitor Eloquent and imaginative, Ms. Faust's book takes a grim topic--how America coped with the massive death toll from the Civil War--and makes it fresh and exciting...[A] widely and justly praised scholarly history. -- New York Observer The beauty and originality of Faust's book is that it shows how thoroughly the work of mourning became the business of capitalism, merchandised throughout a society. -- New Yorker This Republic of Suffering is one of those groundbreaking histories in which a crucial piece of the past, previously overlooked or misunderstood, suddenly clicks into focus. -- Newsweek Faust...yanks aside the usual veil of history to look narrowly at life's intimate level for new perspectives from the past. She focuses on ordinary lives under extreme duress, which makes for compelling reading. -- USA Today Extraordinary...overlooks nothing--from the unsettling enthusiasm some men showed for killing to the near-universal struggle for an answer to the question posed by the Confederate poet Sidney Lanier: 'How does God have the heart to allow it?' -- New York Times Book Review

Author Information

Drew Gilpin Faust is president of Harvard University, the first woman to serve in this role. She is the author of five previous books, including Mothers of Invention. She and her husband live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lorna Raver, named one of AudioFile magazine's Best Voices of the Year, has received numerous Audie nominations and AudioFile Earphones Awards. An experienced stage actress, she has also guest-starred on many top television series and starred in director Sam Raimi's film Drag Me to Hell. Among her many Blackstone titles are The Age of Innocence, Up from Orchard Street, The Lodger, Selected Readings from the Portable Dorothy Parker, and Diamond Ruby.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available