This Republic of Suffering

One in five combatants in the Civil War died, and the author examines all the conceivable causes and consequences surrounding those deaths. Surprisingly, more soldiers died of disease than from their wounds. Lorna Raver's deep voice sometimes takes on a masculine gruffness to quote men talking, and sometimes she speaks as a female character she needs to assume. Her reserved manner fits the somber topic, and her unhurried pace allows listeners to assimilate every word. With great versatility she bounces from describing the mourning garments of nineteenth-century widows to reciting the contemporary poetry of Emily Dickinson. Raver's best moments come as she reads the letters of worried relatives seeking knowledge of the status and whereabouts of soldiers they fear may be dead. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine