The Red Badge of Courage

Books | Juvenile Fiction / Action & Adventure / General

3.2

(229)

Stephen Crane

As important a book today as it was when it was first written,The Red Badge of Couragetells the story of Henry Fielding, a farm boy who sets out in search of glory by running away from home to join the Civil War, only to find himself running away from the battlefield in terror during the first skirmish. Mortified by his cowardice, Henry yearns for a wound, his own red badge of courage, which would legitimize his desertion of his company. When Henry is finally wounded, he finds himself feeling real anger for the very first time, and finally is able to redeem himself.First published in 1865, and in print for 137 years, Stephen Crane's story is considered one of the most important novels of the nineteenth century. It explores the dual natures of battle -- the simultaneous sensations of beauty and violence, of terror and triumph -- and masterfully mirrors them to Henry's own inner turmoil. Fervent and patriotic illustrations by Wendell Minor makeThe Red Badge of Couragean important addition to the Scribner Illustrated Classics series.

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Author

Stephen Crane

Pages

173

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

2002

ISBN

0689820003 9780689820007

Community ReviewsSee all

"2018"

J J

Jennifer Johnson

"5/10"

Lil-Farrah

"The book is really hard to follow and written more then 100 years ago with a lot of trends from that time in grammar, flow, and word use. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who reads really casually and isn’t familiar with this type of writing."

Kacper Brzezinski

"This was one of the offerings on the <a href"http://www.audiobooksync.com/" target="_blank">SYNC YA Audiobook</a> website this summer. It's one of those classics that I had never read and knew little about. Basically, all I knew going in was that it was about a young soldier in the Civil War. I usually like historical fiction, so I was looking forward to reading it, especially since it was written not too long after the war. <br/><br/>Unfortunately, this book was just not for me. I found it very difficult to keep interested. I don't usually have a hard time staying focused on audiobooks; I listen to them while I drive, or while I do household chores. But I kept noticing my mind wandering. I just wasn't invested in this character. I wanted to be. I just couldn't seem to stick to it. There was so much description and exposition that it was actually more distracting than enlightening. I almost felt like there was too much. <br/><br/>All in all, I just couldn't stay interested in this book long enough to really care, even though I wanted to. Who knows, maybe I'll try again in print form someday."