The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane on Free Audio Book Download

Listen to this free unabridged recording of Stephen Crane's Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage. Hear as the soldier Henry Fleming enters the American Civil War, and is forced to transform from fear to courage. Told in an unflinchingly realistic and journalistic style, this novel ranks among the best American war stories. In The Red Badge of Courage, an idealistic soldier is forced to question the limits of his courage when he's faced with the uncompromising realities of battle in the Civil War. Author Stephen Crane follows a young man on a bloody odyssey through a dream-like countryside where he confronts a relentless enemy, dazed comrades and ultimately, his own fragile psyche. Packed with succinct, poignant prose that vividly portrays a soldier's constant anxiety, the book asks timeless questions of what war does to the men that fight it. Amazingly, Crane never saw combat directly, but it's a testament to his enduring talent that many readers have assumed it couldn't possibly have come from someone who didn't experience war first-hand. It is well narrated by Mike Vendetti and available on MP3 download from Librivox.