[PDF] Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry; The Untold Story of an American Legend by Scott Reynolds Nelson in Arts-Photography

Review

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A well told folk story presented by a scholarly pressBy Robert SangerThe story of John Henry -- a real person. a victim of race and economics. yet a tragic hero -- is unearthed through original research and what appears to be a bit of serendipity. But that is only a mall part of what Professor Nelson does in a scholarly but entirely unassuming fashion. After telling the story of the actual John Henry. he explores the musicology of the folk story that became the ballad and hammer song of John Henry. tying its use and development into the history of late nineteenth and twentieth century America.This is an engaging story that I recommend to just about anyone. Who does not know one version or another -- or at least a verse or two -- of the song? Students of American history. politics. the railroads. critical race studies. music or just anyone who wants to read a good story will not be disappointed. Colloquial as the authors style may be. it is published by the Oxford University Press and the scholarship is substantial.22 of 22 people found the following review helpful. This book really touched my soul !By BookAceAlthough I am a Civil War aficionado. I had 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 John Henry. but the terrible wrongs done to thousands of African-American freedmen (and women) in Richmond. by the corrupt "Freedmans Bureau".By reading this book. in my minds 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 authors narrative. interspersed with highly pertinent photographs AND song verse kept me riveted to this very complex and highly interesting book. Although to some readers the book may seem to start out slow -- its like a steam train -- it eventually picks up speed and keeps one fascinated.The books narrative gives great detail to that era in Richmond that John Henry lived. as well as the "white house" by the tracks (Federal Penitentiary where so many of these Freedmen and women 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 1930s. the "radical and liberals of the 1940s". 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 40s and 50s.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 Im playing some CD samples from 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 books influence.Does Dr. Nelson have a web site that relates to this book? I guess thats one more bit of research that I will undertake!! (I hope he does!)PS - the "Gandy Dancers 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.And on my occasional travels on AMTRAKs Capitol Limited. when the train slowly winds thru some of those hand-hewn tunnels and past rough old forest growth. I look for the marks of 19th century tools on the rocks. and think back on those days of almost 150 years ago. when these men (and some women) worked side by side. sweating. hurting. working to their deaths. laboring for the railroad.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Good about research on Henry and Railroad not much on songBy Tony ThomasI enjoyed reading this book for its delineation of the history of reconstruction Virginia. its investigation of who John Henry was and what tunnel he really dug or died in. and for its picture of the history of railroad building in the Appalachian South. These are the real strengths of the book.The author is not a folklorist and spends little time talking about the exact evolution of the songs or their dissemination. That might matter to a folklorist like myself. but will not appear at all to be a deficiency to other readers. He writes clearly. with interest. and pays attention to aspects of the labor and racial history that most people are unaware of.More than that. in sketching the 20th Century history of the song he provides a rather clear picture of the origins of the "folk music" milieu that I havent seen written down anywhere else. only suggested in discussions among scholars. He also touches on the changes in the John Henry image as it was taken up by the Stalinized Communist Party of the 1930s and shows us how this John Henry was an ancestor of Superman and similar comic book superheroes.The book is much more entertaining and intriguing than my review suggests. Especially at the remaindered prices. this book is a great deal. Read. learn. and enjoy