A review by panda_incognito
Ain't Nothing But a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry by Marc Aronson, Scott Reynolds Nelson

4.0

The true story of John Henry's life and death is desperately sad, as one would expect, but this book provides fascinating insight into this historical mystery. The author shares throughout about his research process, explaining a historian's work at a kid-friendly level, with attention to what kinds of questions historians ask, how they analyze existing sources, and how they can uncover information about little-known, marginalized people and groups. This book gives an interesting glimpse into historical methodology and archival research, and includes historical photographs and pictures of historic railroad-related sites today.