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The Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane (1871-1900). Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound,... Read Full Overview

The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting. As the landscape changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble with eagerness at the noise of rumors. It cast its eyes upon the roads,... Read Full Overview

The Fourth Edition offers a broadened and restructured "Backgrounds and Sources" section that illuminates the social and intellectual climate of the 1890s and includes thought-provoking material by Jay Martin, Charles J. LaRocca, and Perry Lentz on Crane's use of the Battle of... Read Full Overview

.0000000000Regarded by many as one of the finest American novels, The Red Badge of Courage tells the story of one soldier's experience in the American Civil War, presenting war in a direct, impressionistic way that was innovative at the time and is still influential today. Henry... Read Full Overview

Henry Fleming dreams of the thrill of battle and performing heroic deeds in the American Civil War. But his illusions are shattered when he comes face to face with the bloodshed and horrors of war. Now he's a raw recruit, Henry experiences both fear and self-doubt. Will war make... Read Full Overview

Young Henry Fleming has the romantic notions of the hero he will be when he enters his first battle, but his illusions are soon destroyed and he turns and runs. Ironically, he receives his

Stephen Crane described his novel of the American Civil War as a "psychological portrait of fear." Although he never experienced the horror of battle himself, Crane based his realistic narrative largely on stories told by Civil War veterans. While those accounts tended to... Read Full Overview

Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage tells the tale of 18 year old Henry Fleming, who went off to fight in America's civil war, only to discover he had to fight his own demons, first. Despite being set in the Civil War, Crane's book has resonated with readers ever since,... Read Full Overview

"The Red Badge of Courage is the definitive fiction of the conflict that stands as the central trauma in American history." -- Larzer Ziff

More the story of the battle that rages inside the hero, Henry Fleming, than of that between Confederate and Union soldiers, The Red Badge of Courage is, as its author has said, a psychological study of fear.

Young Fleming has the romantic notions of the hero he will... Read Full Overview

Henry Fleming dreams of the thrill of battle and performing heroic deeds in the American Civil War. But his illusions are shattered when he comes face to face with the bloodshed and horrors of war. Now he's a raw recruit, Henry experiences both fear and self-doubt. Will war make... Read Full Overview

Thrown into a "trial-by-fire" as a new recruit in the American Civil War, can young Henry live up to his notions of courage, honor, and duty? This stream-of-consciousness narrative follows his dramatic psychological rationalizations as he struggles to make sense of his experience... Read Full Overview