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This Republic of Suffering By Drew Gilpin Faust

This Republic of Suffering

Death and the American Civil War

by Drew Gilpin Faust

Mem. Ed. $18.99

Pub. Ed. $27.95

You pay $1.00

This Republic of Suffering

“No other generation of Americans has encountered death on the scale of the Civil War generation. This Republic of Suffering is the first study of how people in both North and South coped with this uniquely devastating experience. How did they mourn the dead, honor their sacrifice, commemorate their memory, and help their families? Drew Gilpin Faust’s powerful and moving answers to these questions provide an important new dimension to our understanding of the Civil War.”—James M. McPherson, author of This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War “Whitman was wrong; the real war did get into the books. This is a wise, informed, troubling book. This Republic of Suffering demolishes sentimentalism for the Civil War in a masterpiece of research, realism, and originality.”—David W. Blight, author of Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory “Timely, poignant and profound, This Republic of Suffering does the real work of history, taking us beyond the statistics until we see the faces of the fallen, and understand what it was to live amid such loss and pain.”—Tony Horowitz, author of Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War “A moving work of social history, detailing how the Civil War changed perceptions and behaviors about death…. An illuminating study.”—Kirkus Reviews “Penetrating…. Faust exhumes a wealth of material…to flesh out her lucid account. The result is an insightful, often moving portrait of a people torn by grief.”—Publishers Weekly

Hardcover: 384 pages

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc./Random House ( January 08, 2008 )

Item #: 65-5585

ISBN: 9780375404047

Product Dimensions: 6.25 x 9.25 x 0.92 inches

Product Weight: 21.0 ounces

Suffering reader
February 16, 2009

This is a very shoddy effort...short on facts and poorly written. I expect that the author was paid by the word as she repeats herself throughout. This is certainly an area that deserves a comprehensive and thoughtful review. Unfortunately, it appears Ms. Faust was merely looking to make a fast buck and the expense of meaningful scholarship..

Reviewer: Mlt T

Not bad Not great
February 15, 2009

Im kind of in the middle of the road on this one. I read the other Reviews. Yes it does seem to be bit repetitive i have to addmit. It dosnt realy flow. Having said that there ARE manny manny facts in this book that most probably didnt know and the quotes from the soliers I foud fasinating. You will learn somthing you didnt know before reading this book but you may find that it isnt an easy read.

Reviewer: Dana V

Repetitious and Haughty
December 04, 2008

Judging by the tone of her writing, Faust is well insulated by self-esteem, but I’d like to think that, one day, even she will pick up her book and wince like a drunkard remembering what she said the previous night. I may be mistaken, but it does seem to me that "Suffering" is a poor effort in almost every sense. It appears that it is destitute of every detail that goes to the making of a work of recognizable merit; in truth, it seems to me that "Suffering" is just simply an academic's delirium tremens.

Reviewer: Kirs P

Could not finish it
August 25, 2008

This book had some interesting facts in it, just not enough to make a book. She gives examples of the same thing over and over. It would of been a good journal article, but ran out of steam as a book

Reviewer: Jeff P

I give it an "D+"
July 09, 2008

I wanted to like this book; the subject matter is both interesting and under-researched. Unfortunately, Faust has not mastered the art of popular history writing. She has simply taken what I imagine to have been a short journal article and larded it with repetitious anecdotes and sanctimonious opinion; the result is a work that does great disservice to the Civil war dead. Most disturbing is the fact that the President of Harvard University appears unable to put together an intelligent and readable scholarly work!

Reviewer: Michael T

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