The Fourth Edition offers a broadened and restructured "Backgrounds and Sources" section that illuminates the social and intellectual climate of the 1890s and includes thought-provoking material by Jay Martin, Charles J.

LaRocca, and Perry Lentz on Crane's use of the Battle of Chancellorsville. "Criticism" includes an expanded introduction by Donald Pizer covering major critical approaches to the novel and fourteen assessments that reflect the revival critical interest in The Red Badge of Courage by, among others, R.

W. Stallman, Charles C. Walcutt, John Fraser, Amy Kaplan, John E. Curran Jr., James B. Colvert, and Donald Pizer.