may have pleased audiences in 1894, but this crapfest was painful to read and it's current popularity stands as a testament to how high school teachers must enjoy torturing students with horrible books. Crane, a reporter who never fought in the Civil War, chronicles the psychological melodramas of a young soldier, Henry, exposed to the horrors of war for the first time. Henry the intellectual douchebag justifies his cowardly retreat from his first battle as indicative of his superior intelligence--he wanted to preserve his life while his automaton comrades fought like beasts or cogs in the great war machine. Eventually, Henry learns how to fight as a beast as well. Yawn.
I wouldn't read this bung ever again. And I certainly would never recommend it to anyone. But I did get it for $.10 at a Friends of the Library book sale and despite my loathing of the work itself, I remain entirely enamored of used book sales. There's a certain allure to tattered books that have been passed around for years, their pages yellowed and weathered with use.
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