John Henry and the Steam Machine
Classical Stories · No. 67 — Man against machine, and the race he won at the highest price.
- Classical Stories
- 45 min
- Ages 8–13
- 6 chapters
About this audiobook
John Henry is the mightiest steel-driver on the railroad — a man who swings a great hammer to drive steel drills into rock so the tunnels can be blasted through the mountains. When a salesman brings a new steam-powered drill and claims it can out-work any man, John Henry will not accept that a machine can replace him. A contest is set: John Henry against the steam drill, boring through the mountain. To the astonishment of everyone, the man out-drills the machine — hammering with impossible strength and heart, he breaks through first. But the effort is too much; he falls at the moment of victory, his hammer in his hand, having proved his point at the ultimate cost.
Why it's worth a listen
The steel-driving man John Henry, born with a hammer in his hand, races a steam-powered drilling machine through a mountain to prove that a person still matters — and beats it, and it costs him everything. One of America's greatest folk ballads, a thundering, bittersweet story about work, dignity, and the machines that changed the world.
A question to keep
What are we really proving when we refuse to be replaced — and what is it worth?
Chapters
- The Hammer and the Heart
- The Mountain and the Steel
- The Iron Monster Arrives
- The Bet at the Red Mountain
- The Race Against the Steam
- A Question to Keep