The Red Badge of Courage

By: Stephen Crane

Narrated by: Anthony Heald

Following its initial appearance in serial form, Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage was published as a complete work in 1895 and quickly became the benchmark for modern antiwar literature. In the character of Henry Flemming, Stephen Crane provides a great and realistic study of the mind of an inexperienced soldier trapped in the fury and turmoil of war. Flemming dashes into battle, at first tormented by fear, then bolstered with courage in time for the final confrontation.

Although the exact battle is never identified, Crane based this story of a soldier's experiences during the American Civil War on the 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville. Many veterans, both Union and Confederate, praised the book's accurate representation of war, and critics consider its stylistic strength the mark of a literary classic.

(P)2008 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"A classic work of American literature." (The New York Times)

Final Corners filled with Teeth and Claws

“It was not well to drive men into final corners; at those moments they could all develop teeth and claws.”
― Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage

Probably 3.5 stars. Bonus points for the fact that Crane elevated war novels to a more modern level, but doesn't quite measure up quite to Conrad, Tolstoy or Remarque. Maybe 4 stars as a novel and 3 stars as a war novel.

A classic that deserves to be called a classic

This is one of those books we read in H.S. because it was assigned. But it's a classics that needs a measure of maturity to truly appreciate. The story brings to life the experience of the Civil War for the common soldier. The writing is so excellent I replayed several of the chapters just to enjoy the wording. Excellent!

not bad for a classic

great use of words. I'm used to war stories that have more detail, but this has pretty language. the reading performance was excellent.

Amazing story!

This is such an amazing and touching story of the horrors of the civil war. The narration brought this book to life to hear in all its glory! Highly recommend!

a good book for any solider past or to be one day

this book is been on my to-read list for quite some time I never got to read it before I entered service ordering but as a past veteran it strikes a chord as the writer knew exactly the hell's and Furies of battle.

Great Listen

Narrator was great at painting the picture of war with the inflictions of his voice.

The Wounded have a Red Badge of Courage

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, is the tale of a single union soldier’s thoughts as he chooses to go to war, his mind upon entering the service, his fears before his first battle, his hubris and then panic before engagement with the enemy, his discombobulation during the first and latter battles, his cowardice, his rehabilitation (to some extent), his maturation thereupon and his achievements in latter and final battles. We go through all these sequential mental states listening to the mind of our young soldier, Henry Fleming, “the youth,” as told through a third party describing for us the youth’s mental thinking's. The analysis is nothing less than extraordinary.

The book is often set reading in middle school teachings. It provides insightful understanding of the difficulty of marching onto a battlefield. The book may be very true to life. What is peculiar though is that the author is reported to have said the following concerning the fact that he was never in battle and was born six years after the Civil War ended: "Of course, I have never been in a battle, but I believe that I got my sense of the rage of conflict on the football field, or else fighting is a hereditary instinct, and I wrote intuitively; for the Cranes were a family of fighters in the old days". Wikipedia, last visited August 15, 2015, at n. 23 therein.

Notwithstanding Crane’s situation in life, the study is magnificent, and representative of a very likely mental process shared by many before entering battle. The Red Badge of Courage should not be overlooked as an essential read.

Good book

Some parts were hard to understand, but the voices provided by the narrator were great. Very interesting to peer intro the mind of a Union soldier during the civil war battles

Very nicely read

A very nicely read rendition of this American classic; very vivid imagery of the Civil War.

Really good performance of this novel

Anthony Heald did a fantastic job with the narration. I personally did not enjoy the story that much. The reason for this is it felt that it started to drag it self towards the end.