Everything and Nothing at Once Audiobook By Joél Leon cover art

Everything and Nothing at Once

A Black Man's Reimagined Soundtrack for the Future

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Everything and Nothing at Once

By: Joél Leon
Narrated by: Joél Leon
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.24

Buy for $20.24

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

This program is read by the author and combines several original tracks from Joél Leon and his collaborators, Arthur Lewis and Trevon Squirewell, and a thought-provoking collection of essays. Everything and Nothing at Once is an all-encompassing audio experience.

For fans of Heavy, Punch Me Up to The Gods, and A Little Devil in America, a beautiful, painful, and soaring tribute to everything that Black men are and can be.

Growing up in the Bronx, Joél Leon was taught that being soft, being vulnerable, could end your life. Shaped by a singular view of Black masculinity espoused by the media, by family and friends, and by society, he learned instead to care about the gold around his neck and the number of bills in his wallet. He absorbed the “facts” that white was always right and Black men were seen as threatening or great for comic relief but never worthy of the opening credits. It wasn’t until years later that Joél understood he didn’t have to be defined by these things.

Now, in a collection of wide-ranging essays, he takes listeners from his upbringing in the Bronx to his life raising two little girls of his own, unraveling those narratives to arrive at a deeper understanding of who he is as a son, friend, partner, and father. Traversing both the serious and lighthearted, from contemplating male beauty standards and his belly to his decision to seek therapy to the difficulties of making co-parenting work, Joél cracks open his heart to reveal his multitudes.

“I learned that being Black is an all-encompassing everything...To be Black, to be a Black man in the era I grew up in, was easily everything and nothing at once.“

Crafted like an album, each essay is a single that stands alone yet reverberates throughout the entire collection. Pieces like “How to Make a Black Friend.“ consider challenging, delightful and absurd moments in relationships, while others like “Sensitive Thugs All Need Hugs“ and “All Gold Everything“ ponder the collective harms of society's lens.

With incisive, searing prose, Everything and Nothing at Once deconstructs what it means to be a Black man in America.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt & Company.

©2024 Joél Leon (P)2024 Macmillan Audio
African American Studies Biographies & Memoirs Black & African American Heartfelt
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

Named one of the Los Angeles Daily News’ “20 New Books Coming This Spring You Won’t Want to Miss”

Named one of the Next Big Idea Club’s “June 2024 Must-Read Books”

“Leon’s lucid prose elevates his perceptive insights into the need for more expansive visions of Black masculinity. This auspicious outing announces Leon as a writer to watch.”Publishers Weekly

“Quirky . . . memorable . . . sensitive, entertaining, insightful . . . . ”Kirkus Reviews

“Joél’s words are where I go when I need some inspiration. And he never lets me down.”—Lin Manuel-Miranda, Grammy Award-winning songwriter, director, author, and playwright

What listeners say about Everything and Nothing at Once

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.