Stephen Crane’s immortal masterpiece about the nightmare of war was first published in 1895 and brought its young author immediate international fame. Set during the Civil War, it tells of the brutal disillusionment of a young recruit who had dreamed of the thrill and glory of war, only to find himself fleeing the horror of a battlefield. Shame over his cowardice drives him to seek to redeem himself by being wounded—earning what he calls the “red badge of courage.” Praised for its psychological insight and its intense and unprecedented realism in portraying the experience of men under fire, The Red Badge of Courage has been a beloved bestseller for more than a century.

Stephen Crane (1871–1900) was an American novelist, poet, and journalist. Author of the gritty novel Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and of numerous popular short stories, he served as a war correspondent in Cuba and Greece and died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-eight.