Review Of Faust's 'This Republic Of Suffering'

Drew Gilpin Faust’s, This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, is an intensive study that reflects on the impact of the Civil war had on the soldiers and civilians. Faust wanted to show that, as they dealt with and mourned over the overwhelming amount of carnage, the nation and the lives of the American people were already changed forever. Although there are many other publications relating to the Civil war, she is able to successfully reflect upon the morbid topic of death in the Civil war in a new and unique way. This book shows the war in a whole different perspective by focusing less on quantifying and stating the statistics of the civil war deaths. Rather, she examines more closely on how the Civil War deaths transformed the “society, culture and politics,” and the impact it had on the lives of the Americans in the 19th century. It follows the process of the American’s changing

A good death also was a concern because a majority of Americans had a religious background and they worried whether they would be able to achieve it. The concept influenced Americans because it spread throughout literature, songs, poetry, and churches, and stories throughout the nineteenth century. It became a fundamental belief for these people as they were constantly reminded of the importance of a good death, which caused family and friends back home distress knowing that their soldiers were unable to receive