BOOK & SHORES

The Midnight Special

Colin Asher • Nonfiction • W. W. Norton hardcover • June 30, 2026

Five musicians, five records, one long shadow. Colin Asher follows Lead Belly, jazz pianist Elmo Hope, Johnny Cash, soul man Ike White and Tupac Shakur through the prisons that shaped their music, from Hope's Sounds from Rikers Island to Cash's At San Quentin, and asks who got forgiven for the outlaw pose and who got punished for it. Blues to hip-hop, with the bars left in.

Shelve it next to our Grateful Dead books, then put on At San Quentin and read the Cash chapter at full volume. A finalist for the 2026 National Book Award for Nonfiction; winners are named November 18.

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