John Henry Days

Colson Whitehead

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Jun 3, 2009 - Fiction - 400 pages

Colson Whitehead’s eagerly awaited and triumphantly acclaimed new novel is on one level a multifaceted retelling of the story of John Henry, the black steel-driver who died outracing a machine designed to replace him. On another level it’s the story of a disaffected, middle-aged black journalist on a mission to set a record for junketeering who attends the annual John Henry Days festival. It is also a high-velocity thrill ride through the tunnel where American legend gives way to American pop culture, replete with p. r. flacks, stamp collectors, blues men , and turn-of-the-century song pluggers. John Henry Days is an acrobatic, intellectually dazzling, and laugh-out-loud funny book that will be read and talked about for years to come.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

What people are saying

Review: John Henry Days

User Review - Goodreads

This guy is a brilliant writer. Almost as brilliant as my husband. And, come to think of it, his work does resemble Michael's. Sentences in this book had me reeling, and laughing hysterically. But ...

Review: John Henry Days

User Review  - Daniel Otto Jack Petersen - Goodreads

This is my first Colson Whitehead book and I liked it quite a bit. It is a patchwork novel, narrating characters and events from a range of times and places in American history: late 19th century as ...

About the author

Colson Whitehead’s The Intuitionist, was one of the most highly praised and award-winning first novel of all time. Whitehead lives in Brooklyn, New York.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Bibliographic information

• Title: John Henry Days
• Author: Colson Whitehead
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2009
• ISBN: 0307486672, 9780307486677
• Length: 400 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Historical; Fiction / Literary