The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, ed. Henry Binder (Norton, £7.95 in UK)

There are paperback editions in plenty of Crane's masterly short novel of the American Civil War, but this one must be unique since it restores various cuts and changes apparently suggested by Crane's first editor. It is, then, the original version, recovered from the short-lived author's original manuscript, and no doubt critics will now engage in a private scholarly war as to whether its publication enhances or diffuses the book. My own feeling, based on a single reading, is that it is rather a mixed blessing; nevertheless, there must be a real and lasting gain in authenticity. Incidentally, Crane never fought in the war, which was a generation before his time - any more than Tolstoy had fought in the 1812 campaign.