HEALING AND RENEWAL IN THE HEART OF ILLNESS AND DISABILITY

Author: Date: SUNDAY, February 16, 1997

Page: N17

Section: Books

The role of African-American soldiers in the Civil War has been told in the broad sense, in books and in movies, but the experiences of individual volunteers remains largely hidden. Donald Yacovone, an editor with the Massachusetts Historical Society, has edited ``A Voice of Thunder: The Civil War Letters of George E. Stephens'' (Massachusetts Historical Society, $26.95).

Stephens was a volunteer in the famed 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, the first unit of black soldiers, who wrote 44 letters that were published in the New York Weekly Anglo-African. His descriptions of the assault of Fort Wagner and of black soldiers' refusal to accept pay until they were given the same wage as white soldiers are a vivid history of injustice, tragedy and triumph. Yocovone's introduction includes a biographical account of Stephens' life and the background of the times.

Several books recently have explored the experience of disability and illness, notably Suzanne Berger's ``Horizontal Woman.'' In ``Body, Remember: A Memoir'' (Dutton, $21.95), poet Kenny Fries of Northampton writes of his project, at age 35, to research the medical history of his deformed lower legs. The story tells of Fries's efforts to unearth old medical records, of his congenital deformation and the many surgeries to correct it. In the process, Fries writes of his family, of the doctor who fought to save his legs, and the friends and lovers who have helped give his life meaning and vitality.

In another book on disability, Marblehead psychologist Robert Shuman has written ``The Psychology of Chronic Illness: The Healing Work of Patients, Therapists & Families'' (Basic Books, $35). A practicing therapist, Shuman tells of his own experience of being stricken with multiple sclerosis, beginning in 1979. More than a memoir of illness, his book is an exploration of the ways chronic illness affects the person's psyche and emotions, his feeling of place in society, and of the manifold ways in which emotional regeneration can be found in friendships and in reflection. He believes, for example, that chronic illness can stimulate the creative imagination.

Derek Bok, president emeritus of Harvard University, writes about an even bigger polity than Harvard in ``The State of the Nation: Government and the Quest for a Better Society'' (Harvard University Press, $35). Bok argues that, in many categories, the United States is badly lagging other industrial countries, including such areas as job training, education, elimination of poverty and the provision of health care.

Bok argues that while it is true that mistaken government policies often have contributed to this decline, mere shrinking of government will not help; government policy still has an essential role to play in helping America achieve its goals.

Unknown or forgotten dimensions of the Holocaust crop up from time to time. One of the more unusual stories is told in ``Surviving the Americans: The Continued Struggle of the Jews After Liberation'' by Robert L. Hilliard (Seven Stories Press, $22). Hillard, now a professor of communication at Emerson College, was a 19-year-old soldier stationed in Germany in 1945. After the war ended, he and another soldier were so appalled at the neglect of concentration camp inmates after they were released that the two men wrote to hundreds of prominent Americans, calling attention to the situation. Eventually, President Truman heard about it and ordered an investigation. As a result, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was ordered to take steps to relieve the suffering.