The Red Badge of Courage: Stephen Crane's Novel of the Civil War: An Historically

The setting is the Civil War...the hero is Henry Flemming, who, swept up in the current of events, joins the Union Army. He plunges heedlessly into battle, at first loses his courage, then later regains it for the crucial confrontation. One of the most realistic war stories ever written, THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE gives a striking depiction of how soldiers behave under fire.

Three other fine examples of realistic fiction are "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," "The Blue Hotel," and "The Open Boat."