Stephen Crane was born November 1, 1871 in Newark New Jersey. He was the eight surviving child out of fourteen. Incredibly he began writing at the age of four and was published several times by the age of sixteen. Although educated at Lafayette and Syracuse he had little interest in completing university and was keen to move on to a career declaring college to be "a waste of time". By twenty he was a reporter and two years later he published his first book Maggie: A Girl Of The Streets. In literary circles this is held up as the first work in American literary Naturalism. Two years later in 1895 he was the subject of worldwide acclaim for his Civil War novel, written without the benefit of any actual war experiences, The Red Badge Of Courage. It was indeed a masterpiece and his finest hour. In 1896, en route to Cuba as a War Correspondent, he met hotel madam Cora Taylor in Jacksonville Florida. This was to become the defining relationship of his life. However his health was in decline and he was beset by money problems. Stephen Crane died of tuberculosis, aged 28  on June 5, 1900, at Badenweiler, Germany. He is buried in New Jersey. He was a great talent who could, had he lived, delivered so much more. Further examples of his very fine writing are here in this collection 'Manacled & Other Stories'.