John Henry Days

Every possible angle on the story/myth of John Henry, set in a small town in West Virginia with a claim to be the site of the famous race between John Henry and the steam drill. The town is hoping to give itself a boost by putting on an annual John Henry Days festival, and for the first annual celebration they have gotten the USPS to unveil a John Henry stamp. J., a black journalist from New York, has come down to attend the festivities and possibly write about it. A host of other characters come and go through the book, with references to past scholars who attempted to find out whether John Henry was real, the origins of the Ballad of John Henry, a little boy who steals a steel driving hammer out of an exhibit, and a shopkeeper who collects John Henry memorabilia and turns his home into a museum. It's a marvelous book about myth and pop culture.