Ain't Nothing But a Man—
My Quest to Find the Real John Henry

$18.95

By Scott Reynolds Nelson with Marc Aronson

The Civil War was just over, and all across the South, African-American men were building the railroads. The songs they sang tell their stories, if you only know how to listen.

African-American men, some 40,000 of them, built and repaired the train tracks that snake through the South. They lined up the track, hammered it into place, and blasted tunnels through mountains to bring the trains through. No one ever wrote about them; we can only see them in photographs or find their remains in graves. But we can hear them through their songs. One of these songs is "John Henry," the story of a strong Black man who competed against a steam drill and won.

In Ain't Nothing but a Man, historian Scott Nelson takes young readers along with him as he explores old railroad tunnels, hunts through hand-written ledgers, and finds a clue hidden in a postcard. On the way, he uncovers chilling truths that not only led him to the real John Henry but finally allow us to hear a message from those 40,000 missing men.

Nelson notes,"I loved John Henry as a kid but hated history. I thought it was all abnout names and dates. I hope other kids will learn from this book that history is something you do, not just something you read."

Natl Geographic, hardcover, 64 glossy pages with graphics and photos, Index, Appendices, Notes

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