From Library Journal
Like the Carroll volume above, this edition of the seasoned veteran provides a new twist. Crane's Badge was originally serialized in the New York Press in 1894, a year before the story was published in novel form. This volume offers both the slightly different serial version and the finished work. Though every library no doubt has numerous copies of Red Badge, academic and public libraries supporting American literature curricula should pop for this one, too, especially at the price.Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


New York Times
A classic work of American literature . . . in full, as the author wrote it.


Boston Globe
This is Red Badge as Crane actually wrote it.


From AudioFile
Crane's classic story of Henry Fleming's rite of passage in the Civil War is superbly narrated by Walter Lewis. His voice is extremely versatile and expressive. Although Henry and the men of his regiment are from New York, Lewis's Midwestern accent ably conveys the rural character of the personalities in the work. The narration is done just as well; when hearing of the panic of Henry's regiment at the second Confederate assault, one can sense the terror that can so quickly seize and carry away men in battle. There is music interspersed in the action, usually to indicate chapter or side breaks. The effect is mixed. Some listeners (as well as this reviewer) may expect music from the period, martial or popular, rather than the orchestral pieces presented. The cover notes, for the most part, are equal to the performance. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

FROM OUR EDITORS

One of the greatest war novels of all time, this is the story of the Civil War through the eyes of Henry Fleming, an ordinary farm boy turned soldier. Marks a departure from the traditional treatment of war in fiction as it captures the sights and sounds of war while creating the intricate inner world of Henry. Probes the personal reactions of unknown foot soldiers fighting unknown enemies. Henry Fleming is motivated not by courage or patriotism but by cowardice, fear, and finally egoism, and events are filtered through his consciousness.

ANNOTATION

This classic Civil War novel captures the destructiveness of all wars, the limits of individual endurance, and the nature of cowardice and heroism.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The text of this Norton Critical Edition is that of the first edition of the novel, published by D. Appleton & Company in 1895, conservatively emended. As in previous editions, Crane's uncancelled but unpublished manuscript pages, including his discarded Chapter XII, are presented in an appendix. To assist the reader, the editor has annotated obscure terms and allusions.

"Backgrounds and Sources" contains biographical, historical, and contextual material on both The Red Badge of Courage and the war fiction genre.

Frederick Crews, Donald Pizer, Harold R. Hungerford, Eric Solomon, and J. C. Levenson provide the framework for understanding the novel as both literature and history.

A selection of Stephen Crane's letters and an illustration from the battle of Chancellorsville, upon which the novel is based, are also included.

"Criticism" is a collection of fourteen essays (six of them new to the Third Edition) representing the best of what has been written about The Red Badge of Courage, from the earliest estimates to the expressions of current schools of critical interpretation.

Early assessments by Stephen Crane (in a self-judgment), George Wyndham, and Frank Norris are accompanied by those of mid-to late-twentieth-century critics R. W. Stallman, John E. Hart, Charles C. Walcutt, John Fraser, Robert M. Rechnitz, Harry B. Henderson, James Nagel, Donald Pizer, Amy Kaplan, David Halliburton, and James Cox.