The story of his death made him a legend. It established Colson Whitehead as a pre-eminent American writer of our time.īuilding the railways that made America, John Henry died with a hammer in his hand moments after competing against a steam drill in a battle of endurance. ‘John Henry Days’ is a novel of extraordinary scope and mythic power. But is it enough to save him? Good narration overall.From the author of ‘The Underground Railroad’, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and Longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize. does ultimately learn a lot from his experience. Although it doesn’t look like it at first, J. J., whose professional life has gravitated toward covering similar events, has accepted a request to report on this one. The small West Virginia town where, according to one version of the legend, the celebrated contest between John Henry and the steam drill took place, needing a boost for the local tourism industry, is holding a celebration – sort of a fair – that they call John Henry Days which they are thinking of making an annual event, in conjunction with the launching of the stamp. John Henry is one of the legends being commemorated. Post Office issuing a set of stamps commemorating four American Legends in 1996. The story behind J.’s involvement with John Henry begins with the U.S. So, the John Henry story Colson Whitehead tells us is as likely as any of them. A segment at the beginning of the book, supposedly information received from around the country by someone researching the real history behind the ballad, indicates that it is probably nearly impossible to determine the facts of John Henry’s story with any degree of accuracy. These auxiliary stories are woven tightly in among the main narrative passages to enhance the meditations offered on the importance of folk heroes in general and John Henry in particular.

Many, but not all of these auxiliary stories feature people who have some relationship to one of the variations of the John Henry ballad.

But there are also fragments of other stories included – some rather long, others very short. The other is the story of a young reporter, J. One is the author’s rendition of the story of John Henry himself. This was actually a very well-constructed book.

John henry days book