The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

In the smoke and terror of the American Civil War, a young soldier named Henry Fleming faces the brutal awakening of courage and fear. Haunted by his own doubts, he flees the battlefield—only to return, desperate to prove his valor. Stephen Crane’s masterpiece strips away the glory of war to reveal the raw pulse of the human spirit: pride, shame, redemption, and the eternal struggle between cowardice and courage. Told with startling realism and poetic intensity, it remains one of the most powerful anti-war novels ever written.