|
| The Red Badge of Courage (Tor Classics) | 
| Author: Stephen Crane
Brand: INGRAM BOOK & DISTRIBUTOR
Category: Book
List Price: $4.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $4.98 (100%)
New (48) Collectible (9) from $1.25
Avg. Customer Rating:  313 reviews
Sales Rank: 270455
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.5
MPN: ING0812504798
ISBN: 0812504798
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780812504798
ASIN: 0812504798
Publication Date: November 15, 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
 The Red Badge of Courage November 14, 2006
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Red Badge of Courage is about the Civil War, gaining self dignity and growing up. Henry, still a teen enlist in the Union Army and all he wants is glory. On the first day of battle he gets really scared and runs away. He is really fearful of the situation. He meets a "tattered soldier" stained with blood and dirt who ask him where he's hurt. Henry is full of guilt because he can not tell him so Henry leaves him in the field. At first I did not like Henry because I felt he was being selfish and chicken. When Jim Dies I almost felt sorry for Henry. With the help of the "Cherry Soldier" he found his regiment. Knowing that Wilson is as scared as him gives Henry courage.
The second day of battle, Henry turns his fear into anger at the enemy. He turns into a "wild Cat" and " war devil". He and Wilson fight over who will carry the colors (flag) and Henry wins. His lieutenant gives them a compliment and this makes Henry confident. Henry turns from a teen into a man in just two days. He shows he has "bravery under fire."
I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who is studying the Civil War.
 A Landmark of American Realism September 2, 2006
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
The addition of the sequel short story "The Veteran" and the excellent introductory essay by Shelby Foote make this a good edition of the American classic for first time or repeated reading.
The Red Badge was a pioneer novel for its impressionistic presentation of war on a personal, experiential level. This is now second nature, from Hemingway's Farewell to Arms to the James Jones and Norman Mailer World War 2 novels -- and for that matter to such films as Full Metal Jacket. Previously what you could expect was: (1) panoramas from the command level and/or 2) straight-up unabashed heroism and war propaganda. Crane's method in a stroke deconstructed such approaches for good, much to the benefit of American literature.
Also, the book is still a pioneer work in certain important ways. Cheap TV reporting on war's front lines or supposedly "imbedded" journalists will give you the false impression that being there is simply enough, as if a live voice and a camera never lie. They also have no shortage of glib, universal explanations for everything. True American realism, however, does not satisfy quick as a trip to a candy shop. There are things finally still unsettled, feelings that do not make sense, unresolved issues -- even the main ones. Does Henry become a man? Who won the battle? Was this truly courage? Good questions -- and the text does not resovle them. That Henry believes he is a man and has earned a badge of courage at the end simply begs the overarching questions. That is realism, not sermonizing or instant history. And that is this nation's enduring contibution to the arts which Crane had a large hand in crystalizing. Although, unfortunately, a culture addicted to quick "reads" instead of books, verbal and political one-upsmanship can often no longer negotiate its own history or even recognize its own merits and singular contributions.
Crane heard the whole story set down here on hunting trips to northern New York, from his family's veteran friends who hunted with he and his brothers. Yes, this is the way they sounded and spoke -- and if you think they sound like Southerners you are looking through the wrong end of a telescope, historically, plus perhaps conditioned by movie stereotypes. Crane's sources were the rustic country fellows who actually fought the war. His upstate New Yorkers were indeed at Chancelorsville -- and their experience is what the writer, schooled in reporting, tried to convey -- not a neat history book nutshell that thinks one side or the other "the winner" of that battle. If there were ever winners of battles in history, there were few clear ones in the 4 year folly known to some as the Civil War, to others as The War Between the States -- and the continuing debate over what to call it is itself proof, if anything, that much is still unresolved.
If you want fantasy, at least go to good stuff such as Peter Jackson's Tolkien trilogy. It also has some profound lessons. But bear in mind that such lessons are more readily available when you make up not only the characters and events, but the whole world. If you want opinions, turn on CNN or go your favorite pro or anti war blog. But as Alexander Solzhenitsyn stated as conclusion to his own war novel, August 1914: "Untruth did not begin with us, and untruth will not end with us." Yet once upon a time, as they say, a gifted young American writer named Stephen Crane at least suspended untruth for about 100 pages -- and amidst the subject of a vicious war around which incredible untruths still swirl.
The Red Badge of Courage July 17, 2006
1 out of 8 found this review helpful
It was exactly what I needed for my students. The price and quality were right for a classroom edition.
The Red Badge of Courage: A Timeless Classic June 13, 2006
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
The Red Badge of Courage is a book that tells a story about a fictional soldier in the Civil War. The author Stephen Crane presents the main character as "the youth." This book was written more like a biography, and less as a book that shows the entire picture.
To begin, the story starts out at a camp where a regiment stops to rest. The youth (remember; the main character) has a problem: he doesn't know how he will react to fighting in a battle (will he run or fight). Soon, the regiment moves, and the veterans can't wait to start fighting. Then, they get involved in a battle. During this long fight, the youth discovers this strengths, and weaknesses, in him.
All in all, you should read this book. It is a good book and a must read. Show some patriotism: read it!
By Michael
The Red Badge of Courage May 8, 2006
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I read the book The Red Badge of Courage. This book is great.
This book takes place in the Civil War. It's about a young man fighting in the Civil War. He ran away from the first battle then learned from it.
I learned some interesting facts reading this book. I learned that there is alot of blood in wars. I also learned that you had to face your fears in wars. The last thing I learned is when you do something wrong you can fix it.
I would recommend this book for three reasons. You can learn alot about the Civil War. Also you learn what it was like to fight in a war. Last you would learn how it was to die in wars.
The Red Badge of Courage is a very good book.
|
|
|
Wildlife, nature and the Environment
Sponsored Links
Learn how to get your own Amazon Book shop | |
