19th-century adventure america american american-civil-war american-fiction american-history american-lit american-literature children childrens civil-war classic classic-fiction classic-lit classic-literature classics collection courage death drama english-literature high-school historical historical-fiction history juvenile leather literature military modern naturalism novel novels school short-stories survival textbook united-states us-civil-war usa war war-fiction ya young-adult

Small masterpiece set the pattern for the treatment of war in modern fiction. Amid the nightmarish chaos of a Civil War battle, a young soldier discovers courage, humility, and, perhaps, wisdom. Widely praised for uncanny re-creation of the sights, sounds, and sense of actual combat. An enduring landmark of American fiction.