The Red Badge of Courage
Classic Starts®

I feel almost guilty about how much I disliked this book. I know it's an important piece of literature, that it changed the way people viewed war, it's an American classic, etc. etc. But I could NOT stand it. I thought it was boring and I didn't really care what happened to the main character. I was......more

The Battle of Chancellorsville in northern Virginia 1863 is one of the bloodiest 24,000 casualties of the war between the states, the focus of this novel. Henry Fleming a naive restless farm boy not yet a man from New York State, goes off to fight during the American Civil War. Against the tearful p......more

2.5 stars Intellectual Thomas thinks this story changed people's perception of war and made them think about the individual psychological processes involved in combat. He thinks that this book had a nice flow of thought that concluded with the narrator learning to be less whiny. Thomas Thomas - the co......more

An odd book One of my partners in investigations was a retired general. Erudite, wise, knowledgeable about many things, he hated this little book. Called it a celebration of cowardice. I can see his point but in the end the youth, Henry I believe he was called, is at least partially redeemed, though......more

Read this book right before I went into the US Army; helped me focus and understand that courage can take different forms at different times. If you know a young man/woman entering the military may I suggest this book for them - they will thank you and remember the lessons that were learned from thi......more