Death and the Civil War
Death and the Civil War – This Republic of Suffering
This Republic of Suffering contributes to historical debates and discussions on the Civil War by placing the subject of death against the broader context of how it affected America as a nation. Drew Gilpin Faust (leading historian of the American South and President of Harvard University) examines the different attitudes soldiers, civilians and survivors had towards death during the Civil War and how it shaped America in physical, spiritual, intellectual and cultural ways.
How American society attempted to come to terms with death that broke all the rules about dying, and how the nation ultimately did — and did not — face up to this new reality of war are Faust’s haunting and powerful themes.
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