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

Fresh Air

Published October 24, 2008 at 10:22 AM EDT

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"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