America's greatest novel of the Civil War was written before the twenty-one-year-old Stephen Crane had “smelled even the powder of a sham battle.”Ernest Hemingway called it an American classic. Crane's genius is as much apparent in his sharp, colorful prose as in his ironic portrayal of an episode of war so intense, so immediate, so real that the terror of battle becomes our own.

Struggling against his fears and feelings of cowardice, young Civil War soldier Henry Fleming endures the nightmare of battle as he wrestles with his conflicting emotions. Experiencing his first trials under fire on a woodland battlefield, he comes to manhood and finds peace of mind in this powerful description of war and haunting interpretation of that bloody symbol of bravery--the red badge of courage.

A classic novel of war as seen through the eyes of an untested recruit,Stephen Crane"s book brought him immediate international fame.Praised for its uncanny recreation of the sights, sounds, and sense of actual combat, the imaginative and boldly written book established him as a major American writer. It remains, in the words of Crane"s biographer, Eric Solomon, "a touchstone for modern war fiction."

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24