The Red Badge of Courage

By: Stephen Crane

Narrated by: Frank Muller

Young Henry Fleming used to play soldier and dream of being a hero, but when he faces his first battle - the Battle of Chancellorsville - he finds that heroism is not at all what he had expected. Shells burst in front of him like strange flowers, gunfire ripped toward him in great crackling sheets of flame, and all around him, blue-coated figures lie still on the blood-drenched grass. Remarkably, Stephen Crane wrote this realistic tale of the terror of war without ever witnessing a battle.

©2014 Stephen Crane (P)2014 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Muller's reading is superb." ( Grand Rapids Press)

"[Stephen Crane] knows nothing of war, yet he is drenched in blood. Most beginners who deal with this subject spatter themselves with ink." (Ambrose Bierce, author and Civil War veteran)

The story

The book was a little hard to understand but I loved its story and storytelling

Very well Narrated ..

Would you listen to The Red Badge of Courage again? Why?

I would listen to this book again, because of the Narrator Frank Muller made you feel like you was watching a movie in your ears.. Outstanding performance by the Narrator.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I like the main character in the Book, the young Henry Fleming because of what he had to go through as the story continued.

What does Frank Muller bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Frank Muller Narrating brings the art of entertainment to your ears. almost make you feel like you was watching a movie.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The whole story was great.

war

hard read without audio book. very real and descriptive. has some language and gore. war

A Classic

It is so sad that Stephen Crane died at such a young age and in such an ignominious way. What a waste of such a great talent. I am grateful he left us The Red Badge of Courage and a few other things before his life was over.

Crane's style is quite unlike any other author I have ever read. His characters were always referred to by a description rather than by name, although Crane did give many of them names. The protagonist, Henry Fleming, was consistently referred to throughout the book as "the Youth." In addition to Crane's inspired prose, his characterizations are great. The metamorphosis that Henry (the Youth) goes through is very well done. Crane's description of battles of war are amazing, especially when one learns that Crane had never been involved in a war.

Well done, Stephen. Wish you had stuck around to give us more great literature.

There is a seemingly never-ending line-up of narrators of this book. None will be better than Frank Muller. Make it easy on yourself, and choose Frank. He is amazing!!

great narrator

narrator made this book. thankful for the different voices and emphasis. made the book so much easier to get through.

“I don’t like masterpieces” Holli Martens

That’s not true. I do. I’m usually surprised by how accessible a “masterpiece” is. This is a great story, well told. If not it wouldn’t have been successful in its time. And it was wildly successful. Unfortunately this reading of it is more a recitation of a masterpiece of the English language than the telling of a great story. I may look for another recording of it. I stuck it out because it was only 4 hours but by the last hour I couldn’t wait for it to be over. And to be honest, I don’t even remember how it ended and I just finished it yesterday.

Ugh.

I definitely struggled to finish this one. It was required reading for my daughter's class. Ugh. It seems to go on and on for ages.