Product Description

With an Introduction by Richard Jenseth, St Lawrence University, "The Red Badge of Courage" is one of the greatest war novels of all time. It reports on the American Civil War through the eyes of Henry Fleming, an ordinary farm boy turned soldier. It evokes the chaos and the dull clatter of war: the acrid smoke, the incessant rumours of coming battles, the filth and cold, the numbing monotony, the unworldly wailing of the dying. Like an impressionist painter, Crane also captures the strange beauty of war: the brilliant red flags against a blue sky, steel bayonets flashing in the morning sun as soldiers step off into battle. In the midst of this chaotic outer world, he creates an intricate inner world as he takes us inside the head of Henry Fleming.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43707 in Books
• Published on: 1994-01-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

The New York Times
A classic work of American literature...in full, as the author wrote it.

About the Author
Fiona Robertson has a position in the Department of English Studies at the University of Durham.

Customer Reviews

Overcoming Misconceptions:The Reality of War for Nonwarriors
Peace is a rare circumstance among major nations in the last 150 years. When war pushes peace out, everyone quickly realizes why peace is so important and desirable. When peace returns, the next generation can quickly fail to grasp its significance. In extreme cases, this can lead to romanticism of war.

Books like The Red Badge of Courage and All Quiet on the Western Front are important ways to pass along the message of how undesirable war is.

The Red Badge of Courage offers another benefit. Stephen Crane takes us into the mindset of mid-19th century America. At that time, the spiritual and the tangible were closely entertwined in peoples' minds. You will find a lot of religious metaphors in this book that a modern writer would be relatively unlikely to use.

Another benefit of reading The Red Badge of Courage is that it helps to understand the profound effect that the Civil War has had on the United States. The significance of these events remains fresh for many Americans, while others ignore the events totally.

Although it is certainly not an easy book to read, it can be a rewarding one. You will find that you can discuss this book with a high percentage of all the people you will ever meet who like to read. That's a pretty nice benefit from reading a fairly short book.

I also recommend that you also think about where in your own life you have developed misconceptions that could harm you.

Brilliant!
A very credible journey into the mind of a raw young soldier experiencing war for the first time.
Engrossing, and hard to put down, Crane's skillful writing conveys exactly what one would percieve would be the internal battles a frightened youngster would experience in such a situation. Relatively short, but one of the best war novels ever!

Incredibly powerful
What's it's like to be in battle? Where do you get the courage to attack under enemy fire? If you're eager to find out without actually going into battle, John Keegan's book ''The Face of Battle" gives the best factual account that I know of, but for sheer emotional impact nothing outdoes "The Red Badge of Courage". Because it's fiction rather than fact this is the definitive book on the topic.

In a very simple and sparse language Crane succeeds in conveying the battle waged in Henry Fleming's mind (dreaming of heroism but confronted with cruelty and horror), and he does it with tremendous impact. So small a book yet so powerful, this is a gem everyone should read.