The Red Badge of Courage

The Red Badge of Courage is Stephen Crane's vivid and realistic novel about the American Civil War. It tells the story of a young soldier in the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with remorse, he longs for a wound, the so-called 'red badge of courage, ' to alleviate his earlier cowardice. The Red Badge of Courage is widely considered Crane's most absorbing and important work, and its influence on twentieth-century American fiction has been long-lasting and profound.