9First published in 1895, America's greatest novelof the Civil War was written before 21-year-oldStephen Crane had "smelled even the powder of asham battle." But this powerful psychologicalstudy of a young soldier's struggle with thehorrors, both within and without, that war strikes thereader with its undeniable realism and with itsmasterful descriptions of the moment-by-moment riotof emotions felt by me under fire. ErnestHemingway called the novel an American classic, andCrane's genius is as much apparent in his sharp, colorful prose as in his ironic portrayal of an episodeof war so intense, so immediate, so real that theterror of battle becomes our own ... in amasterpiece so unique that many believe modern Americanfiction began with Stephen Crane."