Crane produced many novels, short stories, poems, sketches, and letters during his twenty-nine years of life.
Novels
1893. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (A Story of New York) (by Johnston Smith, a pseudonym used by Crane; republished in 1896 under Crane's name) focuses on social problems and environmental factors which ultimately ruin the life of the main character, Maggie Johnson.
1895. The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War deals with the emotional growth of Henry Fleming from youth to soldier.
1896. George's Mother concerns the interrelationships of several characters, including George Kelcey, who aligns himself with a group of losers who engage in a series of questionable behaviors.
1897. The Third Violet is the story of the romantic relationship between Billie Hawker and Miss Grace Fanhall and the recognition by Hawker that love can develop if it is given time.
1899. Active Service: A Novel, written by Crane primarily to make money, outlines the character of Rufus Coleman, a war correspondent, who saves a professor and his family embroiled in a war, falls in love with the daughter of the professor, rejects the advances of another woman, and brings the family home from the war.
1903. The O'Ruddy: A Romance (completed by Robert Barr after Crane's death), observes the behaviors of a main character, O'Ruddy, a man who has little respect for the customs of British culture.
