The Midnight Special: The Secret Prison History of American Music

Name: The Midnight Special: The Secret Prison History of American Music
ISBN: 9781324051398

by Colin Asher

National Book · 2026 · Longlist

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W. W. Norton & CompanyJune 30, 2026Nonfiction History336 pagesISBN 9781324051398

Award History

Award	Year	Status	Citation
National Book Award for Nonfiction	2026	Longlist

About This Book

Portraits of five twentieth-century musicians and the albums they made while incarcerated, showing how policing and the criminal justice system have shaped American music—and vice versa. Asher merges biography with musical analysis in an indictment of racism in both the prison system and the record industry. Longlisted for the 2026 National Book Award for Nonfiction.

About the Author

Colin AsherAmerican

Colin Asher is an American writer. He is the author of Never a Lovely So Real, a biography of Nelson Algren. The Midnight Special, published by W. Read more →