“There was no real literature of our Civil War…until Stephen Crane wrote The Red Badge of Courage. ”—Ernest Hemingway An instant international bestseller when first published in 1895, Stephen Crane’s fictional narrative recounts one soldier’s experiences during the American Civil War (1860–1865).

The Red Badge of Courage is a psychological portrait of fear. By turns gripping, lyrical, and deeply sensitive, the book chronicles the repercussions of war on the individual and collective psyche.

Rather than describing battles and military campaigns, or settling the true cause of this devastating conflict, Crane brings to life the unimaginable for today’s readers. Written before Crane had become a celebrity war correspondent and seen battle firsthand, the book set the standard for realistic war literature for a century to come.

This literary tour de force exposes the tragic irony of war as experienced by common soldiers rather than generals and bystanders. Includes an afterword by Amy Kaplan and a detail biographical timeline.

Stephen Crane (1871–1900) was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, and journalist. He is the author of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893), The Red Badge of Courage (1895), a collection of poetry, The Black Riders (1895), and other books.

He died at twenty-eight of tuberculosis. Amy Kaplan (1953–2020) was the Edward W.

Kane Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. A past president of the American Studies Association, her widely influential and transformative writings focus on the cultures of imperialism, comparative perspective on the American novel, memory, and war.

“As to ‘masterpiece,’ there is no doubt that The Red Badge of Courage is that. ”—Joseph Conrad“The framework…established in the novel provide[s] a lens…to view international warfare.

”—Amy Kaplan, from the Afterword. .