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The Stephen Crane Megapack: 94 Classic Works by the Author of The Red Badge of Courage
By Stephen Crane and Vincent Starrett
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THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE
THE OPEN BOAT
THE RELUCTANT VOYAGERS
THE END OF THE BATTLE
UPTURNED FACE
AN EPISODE OF WAR
AN EXPERIMENT IN MISERY
THE DUEL THAT WAS NOT FOUGHT
A DESERTION
A DARK-BROWN DOG
THE PACE OF YOUTH
A TENT IN AGONY
FOUR MEN IN A CAVE
THE MESMERIC MOUNTAIN
THE SNAKE
LONDON IMPRESSIONS
THE SCOTCH EXPRESS
THE O'RUDDY: A ROMANCE
A MAN AND SOME OTHERS
THE BRIDE COMES TO YELLOW SKY
THE WISE MEN
THE FIVE WHITE MICE
FLANAGAN AND HIS SHORT FILIBUSTERING ADVENTURE
HORSES
DEATH AND THE CHILD
THE MEN IN THE STORM
AN OMINOUS BABY
A GREAT MISTAKE
AN ELOQUENCE OF GRIEF
THE AUCTION
A DETAIL
MAGGIE: A GIRL OF THE STREETS
THE PRICE OF THE HARNESS
THE LONE CHARGE OF WILLIAM B. PERKINS
THE CLAN OF NO-NAME
GOD REST YE, MERRY GENTLEMEN
THE REVENGE OF THE ADOLPHUS
THE SERGEANT’S PRIVATE MADHOUSE
VIRTUE IN WAR
MARINES SIGNALLING UNDER FIRE AT GUANTANAMO
THIS MAJESTIC LIE
WAR MEMORIES
THE SECOND GENERATION
THE BLACK RIDERS AND OTHER LINES
WHILOMVILLE STORIES
THE ANGEL CHILD
LYNX-HUNTING
THE LOVER AND THE TELLTALE
"SHOWIN' OFF"
MAKING AN ORATOR
SHAME
THE CARRIAGE-LAMPS
THE KNIFE
THE STOVE
THE TRIAL, EXECUTION, AND BURIAL OF HOMER PHELPS
THE FIGHT
THE CITY URCHIN AND THE CHASTE VILLAGERS
A LITTLE PILGRIMAGE
THE LITTLE REGIMENT
THREE MIRACULOUS SOLDIERS
A MYSTERY OF HEROISM
AN INDIANA CAMPAIGN
A GRAY SLEEVE
THE VETERAN
THE MONSTER
THE BLUE HOTEL
HIS NEW MITTENS
WAR IS KIND
INTRIGUE
THE THIRD VIOLET
THE KICKING TWELFTH
THE SHRAPNEL OF THEIR FRIENDS
THE SURRENDER OF FORTY FORT
"OL' BENNET" AND THE INDIANS
THE BATTLE OF FORTY FORT
STORIES TOLD BY AN ARTIST IN NEW YORK
THE SILVER PAGEANT
A STREET SCENE IN NEW YORK
MINETTA LANE, NEW YORK
THE ROOF GARDENS AND GARDENERS OF NEW YORK
IN THE BROADWAY CARS
THE ASSASSIN IN MODERN BATTLES
IRISH NOTES
THE SQUIRE’S MADNESS
HOW THE DONKEY LIFTED THE HILLS
A MAN BY THE NAME OF MUD
A POKER GAME
A SELF-MADE MAN
A TALE OF MERE CHANCE
AT CLANCY'S WAKE
THE VOICE OF THE MOUNTAIN
WHY DID THE YOUNG CLERK SWEAR?
THE VICTORY OF THE MOON
ACTIVE SERVICE
THE OPEN BOAT
THE RELUCTANT VOYAGERS
THE END OF THE BATTLE
UPTURNED FACE
AN EPISODE OF WAR
AN EXPERIMENT IN MISERY
THE DUEL THAT WAS NOT FOUGHT
A DESERTION
A DARK-BROWN DOG
THE PACE OF YOUTH
A TENT IN AGONY
FOUR MEN IN A CAVE
THE MESMERIC MOUNTAIN
THE SNAKE
LONDON IMPRESSIONS
THE SCOTCH EXPRESS
THE O'RUDDY: A ROMANCE
A MAN AND SOME OTHERS
THE BRIDE COMES TO YELLOW SKY
THE WISE MEN
THE FIVE WHITE MICE
FLANAGAN AND HIS SHORT FILIBUSTERING ADVENTURE
HORSES
DEATH AND THE CHILD
THE MEN IN THE STORM
AN OMINOUS BABY
A GREAT MISTAKE
AN ELOQUENCE OF GRIEF
THE AUCTION
A DETAIL
MAGGIE: A GIRL OF THE STREETS
THE PRICE OF THE HARNESS
THE LONE CHARGE OF WILLIAM B. PERKINS
THE CLAN OF NO-NAME
GOD REST YE, MERRY GENTLEMEN
THE REVENGE OF THE ADOLPHUS
THE SERGEANT’S PRIVATE MADHOUSE
VIRTUE IN WAR
MARINES SIGNALLING UNDER FIRE AT GUANTANAMO
THIS MAJESTIC LIE
WAR MEMORIES
THE SECOND GENERATION
THE BLACK RIDERS AND OTHER LINES
WHILOMVILLE STORIES
THE ANGEL CHILD
LYNX-HUNTING
THE LOVER AND THE TELLTALE
"SHOWIN' OFF"
MAKING AN ORATOR
SHAME
THE CARRIAGE-LAMPS
THE KNIFE
THE STOVE
THE TRIAL, EXECUTION, AND BURIAL OF HOMER PHELPS
THE FIGHT
THE CITY URCHIN AND THE CHASTE VILLAGERS
A LITTLE PILGRIMAGE
THE LITTLE REGIMENT
THREE MIRACULOUS SOLDIERS
A MYSTERY OF HEROISM
AN INDIANA CAMPAIGN
A GRAY SLEEVE
THE VETERAN
THE MONSTER
THE BLUE HOTEL
HIS NEW MITTENS
WAR IS KIND
INTRIGUE
THE THIRD VIOLET
THE KICKING TWELFTH
THE SHRAPNEL OF THEIR FRIENDS
THE SURRENDER OF FORTY FORT
"OL' BENNET" AND THE INDIANS
THE BATTLE OF FORTY FORT
STORIES TOLD BY AN ARTIST IN NEW YORK
THE SILVER PAGEANT
A STREET SCENE IN NEW YORK
MINETTA LANE, NEW YORK
THE ROOF GARDENS AND GARDENERS OF NEW YORK
IN THE BROADWAY CARS
THE ASSASSIN IN MODERN BATTLES
IRISH NOTES
THE SQUIRE’S MADNESS
HOW THE DONKEY LIFTED THE HILLS
A MAN BY THE NAME OF MUD
A POKER GAME
A SELF-MADE MAN
A TALE OF MERE CHANCE
AT CLANCY'S WAKE
THE VOICE OF THE MOUNTAIN
WHY DID THE YOUNG CLERK SWEAR?
THE VICTORY OF THE MOON
ACTIVE SERVICE
Author
Stephen Crane
Stephen Crane (1871 - 1900) was a war correspondent, novelist, short story writer and poet. He is the author of Maggie, The Red Badge of Courage, George's Mother and The Black Riders. Ernest Hemingway on The Red Badge of Courage: "One of the finest books of our literature…it is all as much of one piece as a great poem is."
Read more from Stephen Crane
Great Short Works of Stephen Crane Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Classic American Short Story MEGAPACK ® (Volume 1): 34 of the Greatest Stories Ever Written Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Monster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Open Boat Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Greatest American Short Stories (Vol. 1) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Blue Hotel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhattan Noir 2: The Classics Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Best American Short Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greatest American Short Stories: 50+ Classics of American Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Blue Hotel: Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Open Boat: Short Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Experiment in Misery: Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Civil War Memories: Nineteen Stories of Battle, Bravery, Love, and Tragedy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Little Regiment and Other Civil War Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Short Stories – Best Books Boxed Set: 50+ Classics of American Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Red Badge of Courage and Selected Short Fiction (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tales of Civil War: 40 Books Collection: Novels & Stories of Civil War, Including the Rhodes History of the War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShort Stories About the American Civil War: Stories about life as a soldier, love in a time of war, horrors of battle & more Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Reviews for The Stephen Crane Megapack
Rating: 3.4252668924377225 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
1,124 ratings55 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A classic of the anti-war genre. Read in HS.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This short novel recounts a young farm boy's first battle as a Union soldier and his internal struggles with cowardice. Scholars believe the action is meant to take place at Chancellorsville.Henry Fleming enlists against his mother's wishes. Like many naive youngsters, he thinks battle will be glorious, but instead his group is kept in camp for a lengthy period, bored and uninformed of what is planned for them. When they are finally called to action, he sees little purpose to what they do against a seemingly invincible enemy, and he runs away from the battle. Later in the day he makes his way back to try to find a way to feel good about himself. I found the book generally unsatisfying. Henry's internal monologue taken as a whole is thought-provoking, but it's difficult to relate to his reasoning and actions. This may be because I have no experiences by which to judge his, but I think it goes deeper. Henry's not particularly likable (and apparently wasn't to Crane, either). There's something in his manner and speech (and in those of his fellow soldiers), that made me think of the three escaped prisoners in the movie "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" In other words, bumbling and not-too-bright fools. However, many people thought it was so spot-on that he must have been at war himself, so the book obviously resonated with many at the time it was published.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Red Badge of Courage is yet another book that has been praised so much I thought I should read it. While I can't say that I enjoyed it, or even appreciated it, I can say I'm not sorry I read it. But into the Give Away pile it goes.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss. This was the fifth novel I’ve completed and, like the first four, the reader did not detract from the experience, and was in fact quite good.The Red Badge of Courage is subtitled “An Episode of the American Civil War”. It follows a callow, young Union soldier named Henry Fleming, as he enlists and sees his first action against the Confederate Army. At times, the story is very engaging, however very long stretches are taken up with the thoughts and imaginings of young Fleming that grind the story to an agonizing halt. It is no secret that Fleming runs from his first encounter with battle, whereupon numerous chapters are consumed with his rationalizations and recriminations as he wanders the rear, seeing injured soldiers and advancing and withdrawing units, before he returns to his squad with a mysterious head wound which covers his cowardice.Subsequent skirmishes take place in which the author uses every florid adjective in the English language to describe Fleming’s actions, thoughts and impressions. The final several chapters are so absurd in their tortured use of descriptive words and phrases that I was left shaking my head. As bad as the audio version was, I can only imagine having to read the book. Avoid at all costs.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rite of passage? Ideal v. reality? Historical fiction? This novella has all of those. Stephen Crane wrote this story in 1895 without ever having fought in battle. Somehow he still creates this vivid account of young Henry as he arrives to fight for the first time in the American Civil War. Powerful story.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A young man moves from cowardice to courage, doubt to self-confidence, and youth to manhood in this classic Civil War novel.Between the conversations in dialect and the chaotic battle scenes, I found this novel hard to follow but rewarding. I particularly liked Crane's use of color imagery. Recommended for Civil War buffs.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The only reason I listened to the audio version of The Red Badge of Courage is that it's a classic of American literature. I wasn't impressed. I don't know if it's because I am not a fan of American literature in general, or if it's because the book has been overrated. Throughout the book, Crane refers to his protagonist, Henry, as “the youth”. Was he afraid that readers were going to forget how young some of these soldiers were if he didn't continually remind us of it? The almost exclusive focus on Henry's youth at the expense of other aspects of his character worked to distance me from Henry. I would have abandoned the book early on if I hadn't had a personal reason for wanting to finish it. It's the book my father taught when he did his student teaching. I don't know if he chose the book or if it was assigned. I wish my father was still here to talk with me about this book. If anyone could help me get anything positive out of it, he could have.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Story of valor and fear experienced by civil war combatants. How the personal fortunes and perceptions of the participants change so quickly during the tumultuous conflicts into which the characters are thrown.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5This is among the very worst books I've ever read! I absolutely hated it! In my eighth grade journal (we read it in eighth grade), I nicknamed it The Red Book of Boredom. It was simply atrociously awful, and it went on and on and on. I remember no merits or saving graces in this one. To be kept in mind- I like most books in general, even books I don't especially LIKE, I feel friendly towards and am generally amicable towards. This book sucked.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One of my all time favorite books!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Such an exciting and informative book.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5It's a bit of a boring slog, but taken in short bits, the language was rather interesting (aside from a few gems like this, "He puckered his lips into a pucker"...*facepalm*).Update: Ok, it took me a while to figure out why this book bored me so much. Think about a battle scene from any war movie. Now, imagine that that was just about all the movie was. No matter how good it was (and let's face this, this book is no Battle of Helm's Deep), it can't be all there is! Fight, trudge to next fight. Fight, trudge to next fight. Henry has friends, but there's no character development or interesting interactions. He has issues with some of his superiors, but he's such a personality-less blah, that no conflict develops with them. This is (IMO) one of the most fascinating wars character-wise, but the characters were just so damn flat and boring!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stephen Crane first published Red Badge in a local Philadelphia magazine when he was 23 years old. It is a short work because Crane found other popular realists like Zola ("Germinal") and Toltstoy to be tiresome, saying of "War and Peace" - "He could have done the whole business in one third the time and made it just as wonderful". He even criticized his own "Red Badge of Courage" as being too long. Crane was a rebel and non-conformist, essentially without any formal education, he disliked anything that was considered popular.Crane was aiming for photographic documentation, but the work is also richly symbolic, with a series of episodic scenes juxtaposed like a French impressionist painting forming contrasts. Thus he is able to capture the ironic and contradictory nature of war, swinging from elation to fear, pride to humbleness, love to anger .. time and geography are lost, what is right becomes wrong and what is wrong becomes right. The book has no real plot, and is morally ambiguous, one leaves it feeling a bit disheveled wondering exactly what happened, but with certain scenes forever etched in your memory. Probably one of the best artistic representations of the experience of combat.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was another classic I read to help out my twelve year old daughter for school. Somehow I missed it in my youth which is just as well because I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it then anyway.The story is about Henry Fleming, a spoiled young man who enlists in the Union Army against his mothers advice. Henry doesn't know what to expect in war. For a long time his unit is left idling, waiting to engage the enemy. When they are finally called to battle it is not anything like Henry expected. Although he tries to fight he decides it would be suicide to stay and runs. He is so convinced that they will all be needlessly slaughtered that he is determined to alert the field commander that he is making a mistake. By the time he reaches the officer he finds out that the men in his unit who have stayed to fight have indeed won the battle. Henry feels ashamed of himself when he sees the men with their bloody injuries, their "red badges of courage." Not so ashamed though that he does not accept the bedroll and care offered to him by a fellow soldier who mistakenly thinks that Henry was injured in battle but in reality his head wound was obtained while running away. Henry examines himself and his actions and determines to be more courageous the next time he meets the enemy. In the ensuing battle Henry grabs up the flag and leads his unit after it is dropped by the injured flag bearer. By taking charge Henry metaphorically makes the transition from a boy to a man.Although the author never served in a regiment his portrayal of war is very realistic. As I read I could clearly picture the bullets whizzing past the heads of the men as they fought. Another searing image that will stay with me is the dead soldier in the woods. At the time this was written, the war was being portrayed as being glorious by people such as Frederick Douglas. Crane's depiction offered a much more realistic view of the horrors of war. Stephen Crane used literary devices such as simile, personification, alliteration, and imagery to paint a vivid picture of what it would have been like to be on the battlefield. The text needs to be read slowly in order to get the full picture of the words. My twelve year old daughter was bored to tears by this book and I am sure that many children who are assigned this novel fail to appreciate it. Part of the problem may be that the protagonist is a very unlikeable person. Even when he is having his moment of glory, he is doing so by wresting the flag away from another soldier who is also reaching for it. Henry's characters flaws aside, I still found the book fascinating. I have always enjoyed learning about the Civil War and having visited several battlefields I could clearly picture the events as they were unfolding in the book. I don't think a generation raised on Harry Potter and Hunger Games will find a lot to enjoy in this novel but I did like the soldiers perspective of war that this book gave.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I believe I was introduced to the book first, not the Audie Murphy movie based on it. I don't remember as many of the details as I'd like, but it's good as far as Civil War novels go. I remember how he got his "red badge of courage", his conversation across a river with a Confederate, and one poor bastard who insisted on dying in a particular spot (as he was dying anyway).
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anthony Heald does a fantastic job in his audio reading of this classic novel.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Summary: I am sure that I'm just to much of a girl to appreciate the wonder of this book. War, war, war and the suffering of young boys is all around us. I imagine my boys will glory in it, now if I can just get through it again...
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Another one from the Guardian's top 100 books list. Hard to read in that it was depicting such traumatic events and also the language was so vividly descriptive it became a bit dense for me. I was relieved it was short! Modernist text that depicts the confusion and horror of the battlefield.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not as exciting or as emotionally relevant as I thought it would be, but immensely enjoyable.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Painful to read. I know it's a classic. I know it is historically relevant. I still think it sucks.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a good book but a little hard to read. I noticed that the author used the same words a lot such as crimson while describing things but I really enjoyed the book. My mom suggested this book and told me that she had read it when she was in high school as a mandatory read so I figured I should check it out since it is a classic of sorts. It was a short book and a fast read but I do think that I have a better understanding of what warfare was like on the front lines of the Civil War. I think that I will be reading more books from the civil war era.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Another book that I no doubt should have read as a child, but never got to (not being American). Very fast read. I finished the entire thing in about an hour. While it is a classic study of the horrors gripping a young soldier on his first trip to the battlefield and influential in its time, the book didn't really grab me. This is probably due to the use of theme as plot in a fairly short novel so I never really became attached to Henry.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frank Muller does a good job with the narration of this American Civil War classic.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Almost impossible to tell who is speaking, thinking, etc. Had to re-read many passages to attribute it to an individual. I kept reading because it is a "classic" and in theory it would get good. I was disappointed. Good thing it was a "short" classic. Why IS this a classic?
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crane's poetic realism makes us see war and the fear inspired by it as something we would have to experience in order to understand. If we'd been in his place, would we have run too? And how many battles do we have to fight before we realize that the true war is with ourselves?
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I found it very hard to keep my attention focused on it, and half the time I honestly had no idea what was going on. But, since I really wasn't interested, I never could take the time to go back and find the context.I can kind of see why this book has become such a classic, but I have to say that it's just not for me.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It is a great classic if you like stories about courage in battle.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was required reading when I was a freshman in highschool. However, I enjoyed reading it because I felt like I was watching a movie in my head.
I love how the author describes the sun as an orange wafer in the sky, at the end of the book. Maybe it was red, I forget. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In keeping with his other works of realism, Crane's seminal book portrays the experiences of a young Federal soldier in the Civil War. There are many positives, including the accurate depiction of warfare from a soldier's viewpoint. There is no fame and glory- war from the private's perspective is little more than din of battle, confusion and fear. I thought Crane's depiction of the soldier's struggle to rationalize the shame felt from fleeing the initial encounter was fascinating. For all its good points, there were times when it seemed the work dragged on. But for that, I would rated this work higher. In any case, a recommended read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Written near the end of the 19th Century, this is a classic story of the Civil War. The "youth" leaves his farm and mother as an idealistic soldier wanting to fight the good fight for the Union. War is Hell, especially in the 1860's. But it also means long stretches of boredom. After much waiting around, the Youth's regiment meets the enemy on the battle field. He finds he is overwhelmed and has a crisis of faith and confidence and runs away, a coward. He eventually returns to his unit, after much soul searching, the next day, crisis resolved, determined to become a good soldier.This war story is, perhaps, the prototypical war story. I recognized many tropes of modern war stories (both in film and books). The unsure, untested youth, who rises to be a hero. The gruff veteran leader who cajoles and inspires his troops to fight on to victory.A classic story that is engrossing, despite being almost 125 years old. Despite being that old, the language wasn't that dated, and very readable."In the darkness he saw visions of a thousand-tongued fear that would babble at his back and cause him to flee, while others were going coolly about their country's business. He admitted that he would not be able to cope with this monster. He felt that every nerve in his body would be an ear to hear the voices, while other men would remain stolid and deaf.""In the present, he declared to himself that it was only the doomed and the damned that roared with sincerity at circumstance.... A man with a full stomach and the respect of his fellows had no business to scold about anything that he might think to be wrong in the ways of the universe, or even with the ways of society."8/10S: 1/7/17 - F:1/15/17 (9 Days)
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