Product Description
This Signet Classic edition, published complete from the original manuscripts, includes The Open Boat, The Blue Hotel, The Upturned Face, and The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The added stories make this edition stand out.
Because the novel _The Red Badge of Courage_ is in so many editions, I'm not going to write a review of the novel per se. There are plenty of opinions out there. Instead, I'll talk about why makes this a uniquely difficult (and yet rewarding) reading experience and what stands out about this particular edition.

Crane's novel borders on stream of consciousness, but instead of being all-but-unreadable like so many efforts at that technique, _The Red Badge_ is so vivid that it instead feels like a series of beautiful but disparate paintings. Each one individually floors you, but then reflecting back on the book after having read it, you're hard pressed to explain what if anything holds the images together: indeed, summaries you read online give much more of a sense of plot than what you experience while reading it. Plot summaries might mention individual fights, but it's often only with hindsight do you realize that combat has begun or ended. This is probably true to life, but it's hard to keep the bigger context of what's going on in mind when this happens. (This is a book that requires and rewards rereading.)

This way in which the novel is curiously pleasurable but instantly forgettable comes from how it combines three elements: brilliant psychological descriptions of a young soldier's first encounters with combat; impressionistic images of battle; and dialogue that's spelled phonetically. ("I'm glad t' see yeh! I give yeh up fer a goner.") All of these take a lot of attention, making the book much harder to read than its short length suggests.

The introduction doesn't include any spoilers (though I'm not sure what would count as a spoiler for a novel in which plot matters so little). The intro mainly focuses on the bizarre quirks of Crane's writing style, for whatever that's worth.

The three of the four short stories that accompany the novel are pretty good. `The upturned face' is basically an extended image. `The Blue Hotel' is seemingly pointless character sketches until the last couple of paragraphs change the meaning of it all. `The bride comes to Yellow Sky' feels like source material for the film _High noon_, which is not a bad thing.

The other story, however, is a truly excellent piece of realism. Entitled `The open boat' it kept me thinking to myself, "Yes, that's what it would feel like to experience that." And the suspense borders on painful. The writing is so tight (despite what the person writing the introduction thinks) that it makes _The red badge_ feel slightly loose.

The edition also includes some editorial marks to distinguish between different editions of the novel. These are distracting but the presence of `The open boat' more than makes up for it.

The Red Badge of Courage Book Review
The Red Badge of Courage Book Review

The major conflict in this book is when Henry Fleming runs away from his very first fight. This conflict is resolved in a number of ways. The first way is when Henry runs into a clearing and finds a general telling a messenger that Henrys regiment held the enemy back. The second way is when Henry runs into a line of soldiers and they are all wounded, there he realizes that he has not done his part for the Army. The final way this conflict is resolved is when Henry finds his regiment and fights a battle with them.


The two characters I am going to compare and contrast are Henry Fleming and Tobias Macivey. One thing they have in common is that they both have something they are fighting to get back to, Tobias is trying to get back to his family and Henry is fighting to get back to his regiment. One thing that is different about them is that Henry supports the north and Tobias supports the south. I think they would help each other by giving advice to each other when they needed it. One way they would hurt each other is that they both may have different opinions on ways of living.

"The Red Badge of Courage is an action packed book filled with adventure and suspense". The Red Badge of Courage is action packed because there are many battles. It is suspenseful because at any moment the regiment could be in a clearing resting. The next minute there could be a shower of cannon fire raining down upon them. This book is adventurous because there are many twists and turns.




I would recommend this book to someone else. This book is a short read of 130 pages and is great to read if you have some free time. I think teenage boys would enjoy reading this book. It is an inspirational story of how Henry Fleming learns what it means to become a man. It also states that you should do what is best and stick with your friends.


One theme in this book is courage. I can apply this theme to my life in many different ways. The first way is to stick by your decisions and never give up. The second way is to fess up to your parents about something you did. The third way is to stand up for your friends.

The Psychology of a Young Soldier
The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane was a journalist and covered wars in Mexico, Cuba, and Greece. His life was cut short by tuberculosis, the major killer from the mid 19th to the mid 20th centuries (caused by poverty and poor diets). This is his most famous novel. It tells of the thoughts and actions of Henry Fleming, who leaves his widowed mother to enlist in the war. Crane does not mention the economics of enlisting in the Volunteers. The story is generic so it could apply to many battles, and describes the events to the reader. Tales of battle are found in literature from the Iliad to the Song of Roland, but have been displaced in modern times by detective and spy novels, and their analog on television and films.

This novel is impressionistic, it does not go into details much. A writer is less likely to be caught in errors that way. Some say Crane based this book on the stories he heard as a boy, or maybe from the many newspapers and books he read after the war. Young Henry wonders if he will skedaddle in combat. His fear comes true; but his regiment was scattered after the attack and then regathered. Henry got hit on the head, a bleeding wound (the red badge of courage), but rejoined his unit and continues to fight in the next battle. The moral is that failure can be redeemed in the future.

The timing of the publication may have helped to make it popular. Many of the veterans of the Civil War were beginning to die out, and a novel about a 30-year old war would have interested readers. 1893 saw the worst depression in American history (until the Great Depression). The story of a man who falters then succeeds afterwards would provide symbolic comfort for the many suffering from the economic setback. I wonder if Henry's accidental wound was due to Crane's cynicism? In that era more soldiers died from sickness and disease than from combat. In today's world, farming is still the most dangerous occupation.

Classic novel of the Civil War
Stephen Crane's classic novel, "The Red Badge of Courage" is as much about what goes on in the mind of a young soldier as it is about the military action taking place. Henry Fleming goes off to fight, having overblown illusions of a spectacular, mythical epic rather than of the reality of a horrible, brutal war. What he had hoped would be a grand, romantic sendoff by his mother fell short of his expectations. When he gets involved in his first battle, Chancellorsville (which historically was a crushing defeat for the north) he has fears that he might get scared and run. These fears are realized and the novel deals with his efforts to hide his act of cowardice from the rest of his regiment and, to redeem himself. He is a afraid of every question asked of him and distrusts the meaning of statements that are made since he knows what he did and is concerned that his fellows do too. For example, when he talks about the earlier events of the battle, a fellow soldier replies that he is talking as if he fought it by himself. It was an offhanded comment but, to Henry, it took on great significance as he wondered what the soldier meant. Did he in fact know that Henry cut and ran and was, in fact making a pointed statement? Ultimately, the question is whether Henry can become a hero and achieve redemption.

Crane was a very young man when he wrote this novel but, he had mature insights into what makes the human psyche tick. Also, he had a good undrstanding of the battle at Chancellorsville and what went on at the minds of soldiers in the battle. For example, Fleming's regiment was holding off a frontal attack by Lee's troops not realizing that this frontal attack was only a feint. In fact, the real battle was, perhaps, a mile away as troops led by Stonewall Jackson was rolling up General Otis's troops on the left flank. Those in the middle, at times, thought that they were winning the battle because they were focused on what was happening where they were. In a historical perspective, we knew of the disasterous results which were unfolding but, the soldiers in the novel (at a time when there was no communications equipment) saw things on the micro level.

Thye Red Badge of Courage is an American classic and, although I have an interest in the Civil War, I recommend this for all readers who appreciate great literature.

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Product Description
Four of Jack London's best short stories are included. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A Classic book review
In the book, The Call of the Wild and other stories, a dog name Buck is forced to leave his home in Santa Clara Valley, California after he is sold to two men that are going up north for the gold rush. They are headed to the region of Klondike Canada and once they get there Buck soon realizes that it is a very uncivilized place compared to his home. Buck competes with the rest of the sled dogs for head dog and it becomes a very violent contest in which Buck wins.After a while, Buck and the rest of the sled dogs become very weak after the long and treacherous journey. Buck is sold to an experienced gold hunter named John Thornton and they build a great relationship.After John Thornton dies Buck is forced to survive on his own and it is truly a Call of the Wild.

I enjoyed the book Call of the Wild because it was a great adventure story and a story that I think people of all ages would enjoy.I also liked how the author Jack London depicted the relationship between dog and man.He described how Buck felt towards all of his owners and how he learned that humans were only superior to him if they had one thing, a weapon.London went into more detail about Buck and John Thornton's relationship by describing how they were the best of friends.He showed that Buck was so obedient towards John that he would jump off a cliff if he were told to do so.

London did a great job of using imagery to enhance the book.I believe the plot of the book itself is what makes it a classic but the imagery and diction London chooses to use makes it just more interesting than it already is.I really think people of all ages would enjoy reading this book and even if you aren't into the wilderness type of book I think you will still enjoy the story.

The strong and whole hearted dog
The cold Alaskan air could burn anybody's skin and heart, but not this wolf named Buck. He showed he had heart in everything that he did. One of the many things Buck did during his three thousand miles was earning ownership from all the dogs on the team and from all of the men and women who owned him. He showed courage by pulling twenty five-pound sacks of flour for one hundred yards all by himself. This book is a good one to read if you love adventure, excitement and danger. I would recommend this book to anybody, but mostly the younger children because of its many fun adventures.

Really thrilling, but not quite a five
This review is by a family of three kids. Our mom read this book aloud to us. Here are our opinions:
Anne (12): I think this was a really moving book, but some of the writer's opinions, I didn't quite agree with. Jack London says that we are shaped by our society, but I believe that we can change ourselves, because we have free will.
Michelle (11): It was a great book, but I didn't like the middle portion, because White Fang was all hatred, killing all the dogs he met.
John (9): The best part was when White Fang was sitting at the shore as boats came up, waiting to kill all the dogs. I think White Fang was good and bad. He would be a good guard dog. But he was bad because he tried to kill. He never let any dog retreat to save themselves.
Mom: This was really a good book, but I recommend it as a read aloud. The reading level is way above my kids heads, but they understood it in context as a read aloud. There are some very ferocious parts that I skipped as I read, because I thought them too graphic. But the book did inspire us to discuss the idea that we are shaped by our surroundings, and that we have free will to make our way. But also, we shape other's lives by our own choices -- so we areresponsible before God to others.

White Fang Review
London's near epic tail of a wolf struggling to adapt to civilization is one marked by adventure, excitement and emotion.London flawlessly depicts the nature of wild beasts and the environment in which they live.
The storyline follows a young gray cub called White Fang, who is thrown into the midst of human culture against his will.The young cub develops into a dominant wolf and experiences confrontations beyond his vivid imagination.White Fang possesses unique and distinctive qualities for a wolf which is wonderfully detailed in the characters countless struggles.
This is truly a well-written book, with more than enough excitement to keep any apathetic reader intrigued.Although an interesting and insightful look at the nature of animals, the book's beginning can be considered a toil to accomplish and perhaps even tedious for some.
Fortunately, with the introduction of mankind, the story sweeps into action as White Fang strives to fuse with society, and the domesticated animals that come along with it.White Fang's Possession changes multiple times during the novel, keeping readers enthused and captivated.Be advised however, the exhilaration reaches a climax only halfway into the book, and never achieves the high level of excitement at any point afterward.
Despite the less absorbing material in the first and last parts of the book, Jack London's timeless account of a ferocious wolf molded by the fingers of civilization is well worth the read.The emotional attachment one attains from reading the pages of White Fang is more than enough to engage readers of all types.Don't miss out on this book.

Readable classic for everyone
This is one of the first great books I read. I started on White Fang, and have read it twice more since then.People with even a passing interest in wildlife will find themselves drawn into this story, as it takes youthrough the life of a wolf from survival in the wild to dogfights todomestication. ... Read more

Product Description
The sensational story of the entrepreneurs and corporate raiders who built America's thriving wireless industry

The wireless industry was built by a motley band of characters who, from the beginning, have fought unrelentingly against one another for a cut of the business. It's a surprising history full of winners, losers, and lucky first-time entrepreneurs who made millions.

Written by industry insider James B. Murray, Jr., Wireless Nation chronicles the unique development of the wireless industry and the protagonists who brought it to life. In the mix is the inimitable entrepreneur Craig McCaw, MCI Chairman William McGowan, John Kluge of Metromedia, and also Peter Lewis, a former Army officer and cellular business pioneer whose career ended in disgrace when he finally bent the rules a little too far. Murray tells the story as only an insider can, detailing the incredible circumstances--not to mention the greatest government boondoggle of our time--that shaped and defined the coming century's most promising business. It is a must-read for anyone interested in new technology and the American business landscape.Amazon.com Review
It may be hard to remember now, but until just a few years ago only an elite few could even hope to obtain a mobile phone--and the service they got, if they were fortunate enough to get any, was both technically mediocre and inordinately expensive.

That all changed in the 1980s, of course, when cellular technology began moving from experimental to ubiquitous and those clunky early car phones went the way of the Model T and telephone operator. The subsequent rush to wireless has been one of the most dynamic business stories of our time, and James B. Murray Jr. does a fine job of running it down and sorting it out in Wireless Nation.

The negotiator of some of the industry's biggest deals as chairman and managing director of Columbia Capital, Murray has had firsthand access to most of the major players in the ongoing saga, and his book benefits tremendously from the insider's perspective that these connections helped forge. It also benefits from his novelist's eye, which virtually puts readers into the center of the action with big-time participants like McCaw Cellular's Craig McCaw as well as "regular folks" like a middle-aged truck driver named Bob Pelissier who snagged one of the country's first cellular licenses.

Moving effortlessly from Newfoundland to New York and Washington state to Washington, D.C., Murray deftly chronicles the emergence of the cell phone as a worldwide business and societal phenomenon. He also offers informed speculation on its future, as emergent wireless Internet connections promise to make current technology and consumer penetration look as quaint as a black dial telephone. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Well written book about how smart enterpreneurs outmaneuvered the government to make billions
A very well written, fast-paced, and captivating read about how a regulated scarce asset (spectrum) was captured by smart entrepreneurs. The author, Jim Murray, had a rare inside track as a participant in the industry. He maintains the reader's interest by describing (and perhaps, creating) larger-than-life & memorable characters.

Education, Entertainment, & Suspense
A thoroughly enjoyable read!Murray takes a series of broadly related threads culled from the rise of the US cellular industry and weaves them together to create a very interesting and informative narrative.It reads like a suspense novel complete with heroes, villains, intrigue, deceit, and a trillion dollar treasure.I completely expected a bland, tedious, historical documentary, but I found instead a gripping, page-turner that I had a hard time putting down.

Great historical view of spectrum allocation in US
Very well written book! Jim Murray does a very good job of making an interesting story as he narrates how FCC distributed valuable cellular licenses in the US in the 1980s. Also, talkes about how McCaw built his empire. I highly recommend this for somebody who loves the world of telecom. However, this book is not for somebody looking for new business ideas or trends in the industry today.

Wireless Evolution ;)
This novel is actually pretty interesting after I read it. At first, I thought it was just another average book by some unknown, unpopular author that no one has ever even heard of before; but infact the novel got better and much more intriguing to me as I read on. There is a powerful transition given to the reader about how cell phones have changed our lives over the many years of development. It talks about how at first, they were just gigantic blocks that we would put up to our ears, and eventually get smaller and smaller, as well as more advanced over the years into what we have today.

The book also gives great detail about how life is working in the cellular business, and how it works all together and how there are so many cell phone companies fighting to see who is the best of all cell phone companies. This novel because it opened doors for my brain and world into the reality and history of cell phones. I recommend this novel to anyone highly interested in the cellular industry and anyone just curious as to how the cellular revolution began and is evolving to. :D

Spectral Analysis
For a book that calls itself wireless nation there is surprisingly little about the technology from the human aspect and how it came to be embraced by the common man. The book is informative,excrutiatingly so, about the early history of wireless spectrum distribution. The tales about the people involved and the way it changed the lives of the lucky few and the unlucky many is charming. However, the author would have done well to describe the phenomenon as it evolved into the ubiquitous tool that it is now, instead of harping on the POP (rights to spectrum in particular regions) distribution for what seems like ever (150 odd pages to be a bit more precise).
There isn't much here for the budding entrepreneur as some of the blurbs proclaim. 'Look ahead and don't give in too soon' is the simple, and only, story retold by every character in this book.
Another surprising fact is the complete lack of mention of the irridium satellite debacle that started of as a promising techno-tool for the same innate human-need, being able to talk on the phone on the move.
Overall, an informative but tedious book, the kind I wouldn't mind reading if only to fill another loophole in my knowledge of the world that surrounds us. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

THROUGH THE WHEAT: THE U.S. MARINES IN WORLD WAR I
THROUGH THE WHEAT: THE U.S. MARINES IN WORLD WAR I
BRIGADIER GENERAL EDWIN H. SIMMONS, USMC (RETIRED) AND COLONEL JOSEPH H. ALEXANDER, USMC (RETIRED)
NAVAL INSTITUTE PRESS, 2008
HARDCOVER, MAPS, PHOTOGRAPHS, 304 PAGES, $34.95


On March 6, 2008, then President George W. Bush met with Corporal Frank Woodruff Buckles, who at the age of 107, is America's last living veteran of the First World War. That war, and the men who fought it, are now nearly forgotten. When Taps is finally sounded for Corporal Buckles, there will no longer be any living memory of America's military experience of World War I. Among the millions of American fighting men who marched off to save Europe, end all war, and make the world safe for democracy (and who accomplished only one of those three goals, through no fault of their own) was Thomas Boyd. Born in Ohio in 1898, Boyd enlisted in the U.S. Marines when war came, and saw action in France. When he returned home, he took up writing. His literary career was fairly brief, for Boyd died in 1935. But among his books was a remarkable novel, THROUGH THE WHEAT, which deserves to be ranked among the best American war fiction. Boyd combined an eye for detail, a talent for clear, highly readable prose, and actual combat experience to produce a book that was, in many ways, ahead of its time. Boyd has been compared to Hemingway. It could be going too far to say that Boyd was doing Hemingway before anyone knew who Hemingway was. But like Hemingway, he wrote a kind of direct, straightforward, action-oriented prose before such a style became common. THROUGH THE WHEAT vividly captures frontline combat in World War I. THROUGH THE WHEAT follows the experiences of William Hicks, an automatic rifleman in the U.S. Marine Corps, through his first taste of combat at Belleau Wood. We meet him first in France, where he has served as a military policeman, stevedore, and construction laborer, but has yet to see combat. Neither Hicks nor most of his fellow U.S. Marines (including many officers and NCOs) had had much training. The only officer in his battalion, a highly respected major, had seen combat in the Philippines. But that would soon change as his unit was rushed to the front to help halt the great German offensive of 1918, which was slowly grinding its way toward Paris. Throughout this book, the reader sees combat from a rifleman's perspective. Boyd remains tightly focused on Hicks and a few other characters and thus the reader never gets to see the larger tactical picture. Like Hicks, the reader is in the fog of war. When Hicks is sent out to locate a French unit that was to be posted on the U.S. Marines' flank, there are no Frenchmen to be found and neither Hicks nor the reader ever learns why. The first time Hicks is taken under fire is during a night patrol and its friendly fire. One effect of this rifleman's eye view is to bring home to the reader how isolated the Marines were. THROUGH THE WHEAT depicts infantry combat afterboth rifles and machine guns forced the infantry to disperse before the advent of effective battlefield radio communications. Neither Hicks nor the reader know how the U.S. Marine attack is going until they see some German troops begin to surrender. The first indication of the cost of a successful attack doesn't come until after the attack is over and the reader is shocked to learn that the ground gained had cost the battalion a staggering 80% casualties with one company being nearly annihilated. THROUGH THE WHEAT was, in many ways, ahead of its time. Boyd wrote about the chaos of war and what it does to men. He especially understood how the prolonged stress and fear of combat effects those exposed to it. He also has a talent for sheer terror, especially in a scene where Hicks and a fellow U.S. Marine while escorting a wounded man to the rear, get caught in a barrage and are gassed (Boyd himself was gassed). But in other ways, the book is clearly a product of its time. This is an exceptional book that belongs in the library of on any serious student of military history.


Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard
Orlando, Florida

A Marine's daily endurance of WWI
This is an outstanding historical and literary view of the horrors of life and death for US Marines in the "Great War". The author closely models his novel on his actual experiences with the Sixth Marines in some of the heaviest fighting by American forces in Belleau Wood, Soissons and many smaller battles. You feel the oppressive numbing fear of constant shellfire and random death, poison gas, spoiled food and the constant dirt and mud that was trench life and warfare in WWI. Lack of sleep, bad food when you could get food, and the bleak landscape of no-mans land with unburied corpses are the back drop to an excellent exploration of how men continue fighting long past their initial thoughts of patriotism and "glory" of cause. This book favorably compares and to some surpasses, Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage". This is a classic of men at war.

Realistic Picture of WWI
Started out slow, Boyd seemed caught up in using as many adjectives as a sentence could hold.Once I got past that and was able to focus on his story it flowed easily.His accurate depiction of what it was like for the average Marine was outstanding.A very good read of USMC WWI history.

Realistic war picture
This is a novel about what it was lke fighting in the trenches of WW I. Edmund Wilson among others thought it one of the best war novels in our literature. Boyd is a fierce realist (he was a soldier in the war, too) and pulls no punches. Death and misery are everywhere, and no one really knows what they're doing there. But Boyd is only a mediocre writer, and the realism, though praiseworthy, is not enough. The writing is flat.

Easy read
Thomas Boyd's "Through the Wheat" was written by a former newpaperman and the book is fairly easy to read. The writing style was such that you though that it was a true story being told to a friend. He wasbetter known when he was alive for his historical novels. But I think thisnovel was his best.

Thomas Boyd was an interesting man who died from abrain tumor thought to have been caused by his being gassed during the WWI.He came back the war disillusioned and ran for public office in NewHampshire or Vermont as a communist. Mr. Boyd died suddenly in his earlythirties and left behind a wife and a daughter. One of his collections ofshort stories Points of Honor(light) was made in a successful silent movie. ... Read more