Book Review: "This Republic of Suffering"
She quotes a soldier who wrote that, "To fire at a person who is firing at you is somehow wonderfully consolatory and sustaining; more than that, it is exciting and produces in you the so-called joy of battle." The chapter entitled "Naming," is also one of the most succesfful chapter, which deals with the identification of the dead. As Faust provides excellent imagery, writing, "Men thrown by the hundreds into burial trenches; solders stripped of every identifying object before being abandoned on the field, bloated corpses hurried into hastily dug graves; nameless victims of dysentery or typhoid interred beside military hospitals; men blown to pieces by artillery shells; bodies hidden by woods or ravines, left to the depredations of hogs and wolves or time: the disposition of the Civil War dead made an accurate accounting of the fallen impossible." Despite the difficulties, people tried desperately to find out the fate of their loved ones. Pushed by the cataclysm of the war, the United States government for the first time created a system of military cemeteries.
Despite numerous insights, a well thought out structure, and clear, enjoyable writing, Faust's book is not quite perfect. She glosses over the general American perception of these deaths, how they justified them and how they came to terms with them collectively, as a nation.
She hints at that collective response, writing, "…by the end of the century the Dead had become the vehicle for a unifying national project of memorialization. Civil War death and the Civil War dead belonged to the whole nation." Instead of devoting only a few meager paragraphs near the end of her book to this national response, a more extensive review of the issue would have given the analysis of the death toll, more depth. Also, despite a few passing remarks, Faust almost completely ignores the thousands of men who died from disease rather than in combat. Health-related deaths were such a large part of the total death count that it seems irresponsible to not discuss them in a more detailed manner.
Aside from these flaws, however, Faust's account of death in the Civil War is quite enjoyable. Well written and insightful, it deals with a subject that most authors shy away from. Yet with an inventive overall structure, she manages to not only approach the matter of death respectfully, but also succeeds in honoring those 620,000.
Despite numerous insights, a well thought out structure, and clear, enjoyable writing, Faust's book is not quite perfect. She glosses over the general American perception of these deaths, how they justified them and how they came to terms with them collectively, as a nation.
She hints at that collective response, writing, "…by the end of the century the Dead had become the vehicle for a unifying national project of memorialization. Civil War death and the Civil War dead belonged to the whole nation." Instead of devoting only a few meager paragraphs near the end of her book to this national response, a more extensive review of the issue would have given the analysis of the death toll, more depth. Also, despite a few passing remarks, Faust almost completely ignores the thousands of men who died from disease rather than in combat. Health-related deaths were such a large part of the total death count that it seems irresponsible to not discuss them in a more detailed manner.
Aside from these flaws, however, Faust's account of death in the Civil War is quite enjoyable. Well written and insightful, it deals with a subject that most authors shy away from. Yet with an inventive overall structure, she manages to not only approach the matter of death respectfully, but also succeeds in honoring those 620,000.
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