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A Drop of Midnight
- A Memoir
- Narrated by: Jason Diakité
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
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Publisher's summary
World-renowned hip-hop artist Jason “Timbuktu” Diakité’s vivid and intimate journey through his own and his family’s history - from South Carolina slavery to twenty-first-century Sweden.
Born to interracial American parents in Sweden, Jason Diakité grew up between worlds - part Swedish, American, black, white, Cherokee, Slovak, and German, riding a delicate cultural and racial divide. It was a no-man’s-land that left him in constant search of self. Even after his hip-hop career took off, Jason fought to unify a complex system of family roots that branched across continents, ethnicities, classes, colors, and eras to find a sense of belonging.
In A Drop of Midnight, Jason draws on conversations with his parents, personal experiences, long-lost letters, and pilgrimages to South Carolina and New York to paint a vivid picture of race, discrimination, family, and ambition. His ancestors’ origins as slaves in the antebellum South, his parents’ struggles as an interracial couple, and his own world-expanding connection to hip-hop helped him fashion a strong black identity in Sweden.
What unfolds in Jason’s remarkable voyage of discovery is a complex and unflinching look at not only his own history but also that of generations affected by the trauma of the African diaspora, then and now.
Paid In Full Words and Music by Eric Barrier and William Griffin © 1987 Universal - Songs of Polygram International, Inc. and Robert Hill Music. Peter Piper Words and Music by Darryl McDaniels and Joseph Simmons © 1986 Protoons, Inc. It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) Words and Music by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills © 1932 Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC and EMI Mills Music, Inc. in the U.S.A. I Know You Got Soul Words and Music by Bob Byrd, James Brown and Charles Bobbitt © 1971 (Renewed) Crited Music, Inc. Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud Words and Music by James Brown and Alfred James Ellis © 1968 (Renewed) Dynatone Publishing Company. Who’s That Knocking by The Genies © 1959 (Renewed) Time Music
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Story
In a remote corner of the world, forgotten for nearly 3,000 years, lived an enclave of Kurdish Jews so isolated that they still spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Mostly illiterate, they were self-made mystics and gifted storytellers and humble peddlers who dwelt in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbors in the mountains of northern Iraq. To these descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Yona Sabar was born.
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Great story, poorly narrated
- By Oren Kessler on 09-10-24
By: Ariel Sabar
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Dreams from My Father
- A Story of Race and Inheritance
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a Black African father and a White American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a Black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father - a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man - has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey - first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family.
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Powerful
- By Gene R. on 10-26-21
By: Barack Obama
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What Storm, What Thunder
- By: Myriam J.A. Chancy
- Narrated by: Ella Turenne
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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The Earth had buckled, and, in that movement, all that was not in its place fell upon the Earth’s children, upon the blameless as well as the guilty, without discrimination. At the end of a long sweltering day, as markets and businesses begin to close for the evening, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Award-winning author Myriam J. A. Chancy masterfully charts the inner lives of the characters affected by the disaster
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We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.
- By AuthorAnnaBella on 03-15-22
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He Came in with It
- A Portrait of Motherhood and Madness
- By: Miriam Feldman
- Narrated by: Ann Richardson
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In an idyllic Los Angeles neighborhood, where generations enjoy deep roots in old homes, the O’Rourke family fits right in. Miriam and Craig are both artists and their four children carry on the legacy. When their teenage son, Nick, is diagnosed with schizophrenia, a tumultuous decade ensues in which the family careens off the conventional course. Like the 10 Biblical plagues, they are hit by one catastrophe after another: violence, evictions, arrests, a suicide attempt, a near-drowning - even cancer and a brain tumor - play against the backdrop of a wild teenage bacchanal.
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So Beautifully Written
- By Michael on 08-01-22
By: Miriam Feldman
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The Undocumented Americans
- By: Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
- Narrated by: Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
- Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Writer Karla Cornejo Villavicencio was on DACA when she decided to write about being undocumented for the first time using her own name. It was right after the election of 2016, the day she realized the story she'd tried to steer clear of was the only one she wanted to tell. So she wrote her immigration lawyer's phone number on her hand in Sharpie and embarked on a trip across the country to tell the stories of her fellow undocumented immigrants—and to find the hidden key to her own.
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Raw, heartbreaking - we can do better by others
- By RapaciousReader on 04-11-20
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The Fire This Time
- A New Generation Speaks About Race
- By: Jesmyn Ward
- Narrated by: Cherise Boothe, Michael Early, Kevin R. Free, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward takes James Baldwin's 1963 examination of race in America, The Fire Next Time, as a jumping-off point for this groundbreaking collection of essays and poems about race from the most important voices of her generation and our time.
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Delusion shattering
- By Matthew A. Burnett on 06-12-20
By: Jesmyn Ward
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Angels Burning
- By: Tawni O'Dell
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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On the surface, Chief Dove Carnahan is a true trailblazer who would do anything to protect the rural Pennsylvanian countryside where she has lived all 50 of her years. Traditional and proud of her blue-collar sensibilities, Dove is loved by her community. But beneath her badge lies a dark and self-destructive streak, fed by a secret she has kept since she was 16.
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It was just ok
- By ckal36 on 06-27-23
By: Tawni O'Dell
What listeners say about A Drop of Midnight
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- CAMT
- 05-23-21
Excellent n was narration
The narration was excellent. It was wonderful to hear the story first hand from Jason. The constant foul language was unnecessary. I feel you were trying to be real about how everyone talks but it was a turn off. I am glad I finished it though.
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- Beth
- 12-05-23
Finding oneself with the help of others
I really enjoyed this book and loved that Jason narrated it himself. I’m still processing all of my feelings about this book, I feel I can’t find the right words to express them, but I definitely would recommend it.
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- Penchant
- 03-18-20
Thank you Jason!
Your book is healing, beautifully honest, brave and your love shines through it all. really great!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mark A. Stiles
- 11-18-20
Not Often
Not often do I find myself so in tuned with an author that I convert from the book to the voice. I read and felt as if I, as a son of a Black man and White woman, that my thoughts, doubts, desires, corrections, and innermost dialogue matches Jason’s. Converting to audio let me hear his voice, telling a story from a perspective that matched but was an outsiders opinion. A son of the US, but a child of Sweden, Jason brings an understanding of past, a reality of present, and a message of the future. My son and daughter will too only have a Drop of Midnight, but this book will be a required reading so they understand where we came from, who we are in 2020, and they can use it to reflect on how their 2030-2040s have taken steps forward. MUST READ.
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1 person found this helpful
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- michelle ross
- 08-25-22
Deepening
I appreciate the depth of research, Cate personal transformation of the author for me. Thanks.
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- Commoncent$
- 08-01-20
Incredible Personal Narrative
This was biting and so personal and I was completely drawn into Jason's "Timbuktu" life story. His prose and storytelling were riveting and compelling. I couldn't get over how much American history I learned from this multicultural, multi-talented, Swedish-American as he struggled with his racial identity, his parents, and his father's genealogy.
Highly recommend
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2 people found this helpful
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- Sarah D.
- 05-24-20
So sad to finish this moving, intimate book!
Like many people, I knew Jason Diakite's music long before I knew his story. As Timbuktu, he writes and raps (mostly) in Swedish, so as a Swedish language student, I listen to him for inspiration, insight, and great beats. ;)
This book is so well-written - accessibly poetic - just like his lyrics, but what's remarkable is his openness about this personal journey and his family relationships. It's also fun to read about his young adult obsession with hip-hop culture and the opening of his mind to both African American history and the twists and turns of the US's persistent racism, which happened around the same time for me here in America.
Most of the historical information won't be new to American readers; it is so important, though to hear it again from the author's retelling, and it adds much to the story's strength. But Diakite's unique perspective on race on a super-personal level, and his vulnerability, emphasized even more by his voice in this performance, makes this so special. I own the book in hardback form, but I'm so glad that my first "reading" came through my ears, as Timbuktu has for the past few years.
I feel like I've made a new old friend, a friend who has evolved as a person right before our eyes in this text, and I can't wait to see what he does next.
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1 person found this helpful