© 2024 WYPR
WYPR 88.1 FM Baltimore WYPF 88.1 FM Frederick WYPO 106.9 FM Ocean City
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

In A 'Republic of Suffering', Death's Unifying Effect

Fresh Air
Published October 24, 2008 at 10:22 AM EDT
"Shared suffering" writes Faust provided "the ground on which North and South would ultimately reunite" following the Civil War.
"Shared suffering" writes Faust provided "the ground on which North and South would ultimately reunite" following the Civil War.

In This Republic Of Suffering, historian Drew Gilpin Faust reveals that the rate of death during the American Civil war was six times that of World War II — a fact which created a shared sense of suffering that helped the nation reunite after the war was over.

Faust, who is the president of Harvard University, was recently nominated for a National Book Award for the This Republic Of Suffering.

This interview was originally broadcast on Jan. 1, 2008

Copyright 2023 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.