Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry: the Untold Story of an American Legend (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: railway octopus, nitroglycerin blasts, steam drill, John Henry, West Virginia, Lewis Tunnel (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. According to the ballad that made him famous, John Henry did battle with a steam-powered drill, beat the machine and died. Folklorists have long thought John Henry to be mythical, but while researching railroad work songs, historian Nelson, of the College of William and Mary, discovered that Henry was a real person—a short black 19-year-old from New Jersey who was convicted of theft in a Virginia court in 1866. Under discriminatory Black Codes, Henry was sentenced to 10 years in the Virginia Penitentiary and put to work building the C&O Railroad. There, at the Lewis Tunnel, Henry and other prisoners worked alongside steam-powered drills, and at least 300 of them died. This slender book is many-layered. It's Nelson's story of piecing together the biography of the real John Henry, and rarely is the tale of hours logged in archives so interesting. It's the story of fatal racism in the postbellum South. And it's the story of work songs, songs that not only turned Henry into a folk hero but, in reminding workers to slow down or die, were a tool of resistance and protest. This is a remarkable work of scholarship and a riveting story. 25 b&w illus. (Oct.)
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Review

"In this compelling and consistently engaging narrative, Nelson reveals as much about the cultural politics of the twentieth century as he does about race, railroads, and Reconstruction in the nineteenth."--John C. Inscoe, The Journal of Southern History
"In telling the story of a man, a myth, and history wrapped up together, Nelson's created a page-turning historical detective story."--Jeffery R. Lindholm, Dirty Linen
"Nelson is a magnificent writer, and he tells a story as great and terrible as any... Steel Drivin' Man is a rarity among history books in that it is a concise one. It's like John Henry: It's short, and it does its job well."--Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Fascinating...Nelson is an able storyteller, and the finding of John Henry opens up any number of tales to the telling.... John Henry's story is also the story of the robber barons who built railroads (and, in John Henry's case, railroad tunnels) with slave labor and at public expense; it is the story of racial hatreds; it is the story of emerging technologies; and it is the story of how one particular song came to be used, and reused."--No Depression Magazine
"In his remarkable book, Steel Drivin' Man, Nelson delves into American folklore to produce an original, compelling, sometimes speculative but always fascinating biography of the mythic figure...skillfully pieces together enough historical fragments to establish the credibility of Henry's existence. Nelson compensates for the paucity of detailed biographical information by providing a succinct, first-rate account of Reconstruction in post-Civil War Virginia, the growth of the Southern railway industry, the operation of the brutal convict-labor system and the migration of Southern blacks to the urban North...Nelson's accomplishment lies in eloquently breathing life into an iconic figure and elegantly re-creating his lost world in a mode that is respectful, moving and entertaining."--Chicago Tribune
"Written at the crossroads where American myth and reality intersect, Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, The Untold Story of an American Legend is a tribute and requiem to the real steel drivin' men who built this country."--Bruce Springsteen
"Traces the history of the folk ballad of John Henry, and discusses the true story behind the song, of a black Virginia convict who died building the railroad through the Appalachians."--The Chronicle of Higher Education
"His deft detective work, in effect, serves as a search warrant, authorizing him, as he traces the evolution of the song, to drill deep down into the scorched earth of the South in the years after the Civil War to lay bare the lives of African Americans under the notorious Black Codes."--The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Over the last century, the legend of macho steelworker John Henry with his ''two twenty pound hammers'' has been appropriated by chain gangs, Communist radicals, and Johnny Cash. The real Henry, usually envisioned as a bulky strongman, was in fact a 5' 1'' convict from Elizabeth, N.J., as Scott Reynolds Nelson shows in his slim, meticulously researched [book]. He sifts through prison records, railroad progress reports, and census data--as well as songs and art--to create a multilayered portrait of a poor teen, his tragic run-ins with racist Black Codes laws (and his likely wrongful conviction), and his unexpected journey to iconhood."--Michelle Kung, Entertainment Weekly
"Readers will find his imaginative reconstruction of the John Henry story a profound and welcome acknowledgement of the unrecognized labors that went into building this country..."--The Houston Chronicle
"What Mr. Nelson proves is the undying power of the John Henry myth, which reduces almost to a pinpoint the historical figure he resurrects from the archives. Whether or not John William Henry is the man seems almost irrelevant. He is a fascinating guide to the world of Southern railroads and the grim landscape of Reconstruction."--William Grimes, The New York Times
"A remarkable work of scholarship and a riveting story.... This slender book is many-layered. It's Nelson's story of piecing together the biography of the real John Henry, and rarely is the tale of hours logged in archives so interesting. It's the story of fatal racism in the postbellum South. And it's the story of work songs, songs that not only turned Henry into a folk hero but, in reminding workers to slow down or die, were a tool of resistance and protest."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The discovery of new documentation combined with Scott Reynolds Nelson's rapid and engaging tour through a broad landscape of American history and culture allows us more fully to grasp the political, racial, and technological context in which John Henry lived and his legend grew."--Gavin James Campbell, American Historical Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (September 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195300106
• ISBN-13: 978-0195300109
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #638,581 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book really touched my soul !, February 8, 2007

By	Ace (East Coast) - See all my reviews

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Although I am a Civil War aficionado, I have rarely read about what happened directly after the war. However, this book has changed my reading habits!!

From the time I was a child, I had a special affection for the John Henry songs and "legends". Well, I had no idea he was REAL-- flesh and blood! This book not only brought him alive for me, but the research and presentation was EXQUISITE. Dr Nelson -- in my eyes you have done a tremendous job of bringing alive not only JH, but the terrible wrongs done to thousands of African-American freedmen (and women) in Richmond, by the corrupt "Freedman's Bureau".

By reading this book, in my mind's eye AND ear, I could see the men and women who toiled in the often brutal conditions, to dig tunnels and build track. I could almost hear the weird and wonderful chants that helped lay the track and ease the brutal conditions and physical pain that these people, mostly (wrongfully convicted in many cases) convicts endured, usually until they dropped dead from the years of toil and/or silicosis.

Could that photograph of a John Henry (page 46) in Bealton VA (not that far from Richmond) really be him? Truth is stranger than fiction - perhaps we ARE looking into his smiling face. And one question I have-- how does the Smithsonian REALLY know which bones are his? (maybe I missed something)

The author's narrative, interspersed with highly pertinent photographs AND song verse kept me riveted to this very complex and highly interesting book.

The book's narrative gives great detail to that era in Richmond that John Henry lived, as wel as the "white house" by the tracks (Federal Penitentiary where so many of these Freedmen were wrongfully incarcerated) and as it winds past John Henry the individual, it reveals the highly pertinent correlation with those railroad songs handed down by word-of-mouth and then collected and sung by the like of people such as Carl Sandburg, folk singer as well as poet, Pete Seeger, Burl Ives.

The book then shows how the John Henry story and ballads found their way into art, and life as well - expressed in the artwork and subject matter in Marvel Comix; expressed in the song and art of striking workers, the WPA, Karl Marx, the Communists and Socialists in America in the 1930's, the "radical and liberals of the 1940's", the Black Worker Protest Songs -- and more.

Of great interest also was the way the South incorporated (and the way it did NOT incorporate) black history regarding John Henry and other related Afro-American folk heroes and song into its school textbooks and library books back in the 40's and 50's.

I borrowed this book from the library -- but I was so impressed with it that I bought one for myself. I want to do my own research (in fact I'm playing some CD samples from Amazon right now, having to do with John Henry and word of mouth folk songs) on these ballads, and those who sang them as well as those who still sing them today.

I cannot find any fault with this book. The fact that I am now hooked on the John Henry ballad and all the history (past AND present) that goes with it is proof enough of this book's influence.

Does Dr. Nelson have a web site that relates to this book? I guess that's one more bit of research that I will undertake!! (I hope he does!)

PS- the "Gandy Dancer's Gal" on page 131 is a tremendous summation on canvas, of the strength and hardships, as well as the joys that were part of these track workers' lives.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wish I had read this before my first college history course, November 18, 2006

By	A Reader "snailgate" (Newark, DE United States) - See all my reviews

This book offers a great introduction into what and how a real historian does history. Who would guess that an old dump can be more informative than a documentary movie? The 'truth' about the real John Henry is only a hook for demonstrating the confusion, guess work, and desire to tell an acceptable story that is history. This very readable little book could go along way to breaking the belief of many that all you need to understand history is a good textbook.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating read!, July 16, 2007

By	Shauna S. Roberts (Riverside, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As someone interested in history, the South, civil rights, and folk songs, I loved this book. The author starts by tracking down evidence to propose a candidate for the original John Henry who inspired the song. The author then fills in the details of what John Henry's life after arrest was probably like based on court, prison, and railroad records. Certainly, this part is speculative, as some reviewers have complained, but there is no reason a priori to expect that John Henry's experiences were significantly different from the norm. Besides, the discussion of the horrifying conditions the railroad builders and workers endured is eye-opening. Much of the latter portion of the book discusses how the song spread and the meaning it had at different times and to different groups. The author obviously did extensive research and creates a fascinating portrait of how a song mutates to suit current times.