Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American Legend
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.50 (575 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0195341198 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 224 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-03-12 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
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. 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. . Under discriminatory Black Codes, Henry was sentenced to 10 years in the Virginia Penitentiary and put to work building the C&O Railroad. This is a remarkable work of scholarship and a riveting story. It's the story of fatal racism in the postbellum South. All rights reserved. Folklorists have long thought John Henry to be mythical, but
In Steel Drivin' Man, Scott Reynolds Nelson recounts the true story of the man behind the iconic American hero, telling the poignant tale of a young Virginia convict who died working on one of the most dangerous enterprises of the time, the first rail route through the Appalachian Mountains. Handy, to Carl Sandburg's use of the ballad to become the first "folk singer," to the upbeat version by Tennessee Ernie Ford. The ballad "John Henry" is the most recorded folk song in American history and John Henry--the mighty railroad man who could blast through rock faster than a steam drill--is a towering figure in our culture. Using census data, penitentiary reports, and railroad company reports, Nelson reveals how John Henry, victimized by Virginia's notorious Black Codes, was shipped to the infamous Richmond Penitentiary to become prisoner number 497, and was forced to labor on the mile-long Lewis Tunnel for the C&O railroad. Attractively illustrated with numerous images, Steel Drivin' Man offers a marvelous portrait of a belove
"A well told folk story presented by a scholarly press" according to Robert Sanger. The 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 Americ. This book really touched my soul ! Although 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 . Good about research on Henry and Railroad not much on song I 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 reader
Scott Reynolds Nelson is Associate Professor of History at the College of William and Mary. The author of Iron Confederacies: Southern Railways, Klan Violence, and Reconstruction, he has served as a consultant on the forthcoming PBS documentary on John Henry.