Historian Scott Reynolds Nelson started out researching the undocumented story of African American railroad workers in the South in the days when rock was being blasted and track was being laid. One lead he followed was the legend of John Henry. What could that tale—told and retold in song and story—reveal about Black railroad laborers? Soon, however, his research focused on John Henry himself—was he a myth or real man? In this fascinating documentation of Nelson’s research journey, also chronicled in Nelson’s adult book Steel Drivin’ Man: John Henry: The Untold Story of an American Legend (Oxford University Press, 2006), Marc Aronson carries readers along with Nelson into railroad tunnels and reading rooms, Civil War records and traces of a prison disgrace. Nelson pieced together the facts they reveal and questions still unanswered to offer a theory on the life behind the legend of John Henry. The result is a truly thrilling look at how history is revealed—at how meticulous research and intuitive leaps that raise hairs on the back of one’s head can deepen understanding of the past. The use of numerous documentary photographs and other images from the nineteenth century add a powerful visual dimension, although some artists’ renderings reflect racial stereotypes and an explanation acknowledging this would have been welcome. Nevertheless, this volume is insightful, inspiring, and will be, for many, impossible to put down. (Age 10 and older)

Who was the real John Henry? The story of this legendary African-American figure has come down to us in so many songs, stories, and plays, that the facts are often lost. Historian Scott Nelson brings John Henry alive for young readers in his personal quest for the true story of the man behind the myth. Nelson presents the famous folk song as a mystery to be unraveled, identifying the embedded clues within the lyrics, which he examines to uncover many surprising truths. He investigates the legend and reveals the real John Henry in this beautifully illustrated book.

Nelson’s narrative is multilayered, interweaving the story of the building of the railroads, the period of Reconstruction, folk tales, American mythology, and an exploration of the tradition of work songs and their evolution into blues and rock and roll. This is also the story of the author’s search for the flesh-and-blood man who became an American folk hero; Nelson gives a first-person account of how the historian works, showing history as a process of discovery. Readers rediscover an African-American folk hero. We meet John Henry, the man who worked for the railroad, driving steel spikes. When the railroad threatens to replace workers with a steam-powered hammer, John Henry bets that he can drive the beams into the ground faster than the machine. He wins the contest, but dies in the effort.

Nelson’s vibrant text, combined with archival images, brings a new perspective and focus to the life and times of this American legend.