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How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South
From the New York Times contributing opinion writer and award-winning author of Reading While Black, a riveting intergenerational account of his family’s search for home and hope
“Powerful . . . McCaulley uses examples of his own family’s stories of survival over time to remind readers that some paths to the promised land have detours along the way.”—The Root
A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
For much of his life, Esau McCaulley was taught to see himself as an someone who, through hard work, faith, and determination, overcame childhood poverty, anti-Black racism, and an absent father to earn a job as a university professor and a life in the middle class.
But that narrative was called into question one night, when McCaulley answered the phone and learned that his father—whose absence defined his upbringing—died in a car crash. McCaulley was being asked to deliver his father’s eulogy, to make sense of his complicated legacy in a country that only accepts Black men on the condition that they are exceptional, hardworking, perfect.
The resulting effort sent McCaulley back through his family history, seeking to understand the community that shaped him. In these pages, we meet his great-grandmother Sophia, a tenant farmer born with the gift of prophecy who scraped together a life in Jim Crow Alabama; his mother, Laurie, who raised four kids alone in an era when single Black mothers were demonized as “welfare queens”; and a cast of family, friends, and neighbors who won small victories in a world built to swallow Black lives. With profound honesty and compassion, he raises questions that implicate us What does each person’s struggle to build a life teach us about what we owe each other? About what it means to be human?
How Far to the Promised Land is a thrilling and tender epic about being Black in America. It’s a book that questions our too-simple narratives about poverty and upward mobility; a book in which the people normally written out of the American Dream are given voice.
“Powerful . . . McCaulley uses examples of his own family’s stories of survival over time to remind readers that some paths to the promised land have detours along the way.”—The Root
A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
For much of his life, Esau McCaulley was taught to see himself as an someone who, through hard work, faith, and determination, overcame childhood poverty, anti-Black racism, and an absent father to earn a job as a university professor and a life in the middle class.
But that narrative was called into question one night, when McCaulley answered the phone and learned that his father—whose absence defined his upbringing—died in a car crash. McCaulley was being asked to deliver his father’s eulogy, to make sense of his complicated legacy in a country that only accepts Black men on the condition that they are exceptional, hardworking, perfect.
The resulting effort sent McCaulley back through his family history, seeking to understand the community that shaped him. In these pages, we meet his great-grandmother Sophia, a tenant farmer born with the gift of prophecy who scraped together a life in Jim Crow Alabama; his mother, Laurie, who raised four kids alone in an era when single Black mothers were demonized as “welfare queens”; and a cast of family, friends, and neighbors who won small victories in a world built to swallow Black lives. With profound honesty and compassion, he raises questions that implicate us What does each person’s struggle to build a life teach us about what we owe each other? About what it means to be human?
How Far to the Promised Land is a thrilling and tender epic about being Black in America. It’s a book that questions our too-simple narratives about poverty and upward mobility; a book in which the people normally written out of the American Dream are given voice.
Audible Audio
First published September 12, 2023
143 people are currently reading
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About the author
Esau McCaulley
25 books399 followersEsau McCaulley, PhD is an associate professor of New Testament at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL. He is the author of many works including Sharing in the Son’s Inheritance and the Children’s Book Josie Johnson Hair and the Holy Spirit. His book Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope won numerous awards, including Christianity Today’s book of the year. His latest project is a memoir entitled: How far to the Promise Land: One Family’s Story of Hope and Survival in the American South. He is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. His writings have also appeared in places such as The Atlantic, Washington Post, and Christianity Today. He is married to Mandy, a pediatrician and navy reservist. Together, they have four wonderful children
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 574 reviews
June 29, 2023
A Response to Esau McCaulley’s How Far to the Promised Land
By Anne Reed Harper
(There is no way to ‘review,’ in the common sense of that word, a work that is as deeply personal and autobiographical as How Far to the Promised Land. When someone shares their story in such a vulnerable and honest way all you can do is take it in, sit with it and let the hope that resonates throughout it fill you up.)
I could not wait to read How Far to the Promised Land. Esau writes things that confront and challenge me without condemnation or vitriol. As a white Southerner who arrived at the end of the Baby Boom, I have lived through some of the seminal moments of the 20th century. I am also the product of a lot of pre- and post-desegregation education. I still have a lot to un-learn. One of the voices that started me on that journey is that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. One of the voices that keeps me on it is that of Dr. Esau Daniel McCaulley. I believe that is because both of these men were/are faithful followers of Jesus Christ, whose voice is the one that holds the hope of redemption, reconciliation and salvation for all of humankind.
Reading How Far to the Promised Land was like sitting with a dear and trusted friend over coffee and hearing details that helped me understand more completely how the sum of his life experiences and the depth of his faith had combined to form his character. I will always be grateful for this gift.
By Anne Reed Harper
(There is no way to ‘review,’ in the common sense of that word, a work that is as deeply personal and autobiographical as How Far to the Promised Land. When someone shares their story in such a vulnerable and honest way all you can do is take it in, sit with it and let the hope that resonates throughout it fill you up.)
I could not wait to read How Far to the Promised Land. Esau writes things that confront and challenge me without condemnation or vitriol. As a white Southerner who arrived at the end of the Baby Boom, I have lived through some of the seminal moments of the 20th century. I am also the product of a lot of pre- and post-desegregation education. I still have a lot to un-learn. One of the voices that started me on that journey is that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. One of the voices that keeps me on it is that of Dr. Esau Daniel McCaulley. I believe that is because both of these men were/are faithful followers of Jesus Christ, whose voice is the one that holds the hope of redemption, reconciliation and salvation for all of humankind.
Reading How Far to the Promised Land was like sitting with a dear and trusted friend over coffee and hearing details that helped me understand more completely how the sum of his life experiences and the depth of his faith had combined to form his character. I will always be grateful for this gift.
October 9, 2023
This book is beautifully, clearly, and honestly written. I’m grateful to Esau McCaulley for sharing his story.
October 1, 2023
Beautiful. In addition to his wonderful scholarly work in Reading While Black, you see here that Esau McCaulley is a gifted story-teller as well. I look forward to reading everything he writes.
December 1, 2025
This is the kind of memoir I enjoy, one that opens new windows in my soul.
October 29, 2023
As readers, we have a tendency to compartmentalize our reading choices. The subtitle of How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family’s Story of Hope and Survival in the American South shouts, “Race book!” Then, the first few chapters about author Esau McCaulley’s impoverished childhood land the book in the “Rags to Riches” biography category. And it just so happens that McCaulley is a believer and mentions Jesus, so say hello to category three: Christian non-fiction.
Fortunately, all this subconscious genre analysis didn’t get in the way of my complete enjoyment of the book’s narrative arc, a distinctly black account of one man’s experience of finding Joy. If you had a difficult childhood, you will identify with McCaulley’s struggle to fit education and vocation into the world he knew. If you didn’t grow up with a difficult childhood, the book will open your eyes and mind to the reality that family dysfunction, drug addiction, and hopelessness are simply the water many kids are born into—and swimming lessons are hard to come by.
Fortunately, all this subconscious genre analysis didn’t get in the way of my complete enjoyment of the book’s narrative arc, a distinctly black account of one man’s experience of finding Joy. If you had a difficult childhood, you will identify with McCaulley’s struggle to fit education and vocation into the world he knew. If you didn’t grow up with a difficult childhood, the book will open your eyes and mind to the reality that family dysfunction, drug addiction, and hopelessness are simply the water many kids are born into—and swimming lessons are hard to come by.
April 15, 2024
A memoir that is tussling with Beth Moore's for the first place in my heart. It is truly wonderfully written and has the courage to be honest.
Some takeaways:
knowing the stereotype vs the WHOLE STORY
sacrifice of a mother
the burden of a name
loss after loss
forgiveness for a father
only 2 out of 5 male cousins surviving, one's death during the book's writing
"Hard lives are beautiful in their own way."
Some takeaways:
knowing the stereotype vs the WHOLE STORY
sacrifice of a mother
the burden of a name
loss after loss
forgiveness for a father
only 2 out of 5 male cousins surviving, one's death during the book's writing
"Hard lives are beautiful in their own way."
October 19, 2023
Esau is a gifted communicator and storyteller, so I'm grateful he chose to share his life's story with us. The ins and outs of it are full of the spectrum of human emotions. But a major note that comes through is a tenderness and compassion towards those in his life.
He narrates the audio version himself, too - highly recommend.
He narrates the audio version himself, too - highly recommend.
September 13, 2023
This memoir by Esau McCaulley is such an amazing story. I was captivated from page 1. His honest reflections on his childhood gave me new insight as I reflect on my own experiences. This quote in the final chapter resonates so much with me: “Christians like to believe that our faith is about people who convert and immediately change their lives. We envision flawless good citizens with well-mown lawns and perfectly behaved children. But life is hard. The road is long and winding, and the path to the promised land is not always clear. Nonetheless, hard lives are beautiful in their own way. Wanderings are instructive in their own right.”
April 30, 2025
A wholly worthwhile read. The author is my exact age and grew up in a town about an hour and a half north of where I currently live. It opened my eyes more to the reality of growing up under the thumb that is childhood poverty, racism, and an absent father. These things can sound like black stereotypes, until you realize the systemic and generational reasons behind a lot of it. And how inescapable it can all be.
December 27, 2025
Beautiful, simple language to tell a complex story of injustice. He emphasizes that ones person's story is not everyone's story and that generalizations are unfair. His own voice reading the book was a bonus in the audio version
November 26, 2023
Esau McCaulley has a way of writing profound truths simply - a mark of a great teacher and storyteller. This book drew me in to the story of his family, reminding me of hope in a God who knows pain and trials, and who is there in the midst of suffering.
I’ll be soaking up these stories for awhile, and looking forward to any future works of McCaulley’s.
I’ll be soaking up these stories for awhile, and looking forward to any future works of McCaulley’s.
Want to read
April 9, 2023Just read a beautiful opinion piece by this author in The NY Times about Easter.
April 8, 2024
A beautiful, honest book. Esau McCaulley is a gifted storyteller and masterfully weaves the pieces of his life together into a moving memoir.
February 13, 2024
Devoured this on audio in a day. So beautifully written and told. Loved all of his redemptive stories within his family. Very powerful testimonies of forgiveness and grace.
May 30, 2024
This is a beautiful, stunning book. Another life-changing autobiography opening up a look into another life.
October 6, 2023
Beautifully written, meaningfully told family history, and finding one's place in it.
January 27, 2025
I am better having read this book. Esau shares so beautifully the stories of his family history. Stories that help us better understand and see humanity instead of stereotypes. Beautiful in every single way. A must read for all of us.
January 5, 2024
I don’t know what more you could ask of a book than McCaulley gives in this one.
How Far is a memoir that grew out of a question: Can you give us an example of the worst racism you’ve experienced?
McCaulley politely declined in the public forum. But in this book, prompted in part by the experience of writing his father’s eulogy, he gives, instead, a clear, thoughtful answer to a broader question: What it is like to be a black boy who grows up to be a black man in the United States?
The result is both painful and hopeful and, for McCaulley, grounded in deep faith.
“Where was God on the slave ship, in the cotton fields, in courtrooms where innocent men and women were condemned to death for crimes they did not commit? Where was God when I was a child in need of his protection? There is no Black faith that doesn’t wrestle with the problem of evil.”
Faith passed down through generations told him where to go with his questions about being deserted by his father. “God came to me not with logical explanations of the problems of evil but with his presence.”
McCaulley does give specific examples of racism he’s encountered, but the book is about so much more than individual sins.
“I needed the spiritual resources to forgive or at least to become more than the jumble of grievances I had collected during my twenty-one years on the planet. I didn’t yet have a full understanding of what all this might mean, but that was the beginning of the search for a positive vision of my life that included more than being different from my father.”
He looks back generations to find answers: How could one grandmother turn horror into heroics while his father’s demons turned him into a villain himself?
“Even in the realm of childhood fantasy, monsters and heroes are not just born. They are made. The same trauma that sets the context for heroic bravery also creates the possibility for failure.”
McCaulley is a theologian and teacher whose experiences range from historic Black churches to mostly-white college Bible studies.
“If Black sermons were like a pot of water on a stovetop, beginning cool and working their way to a boil, these talks were a leisurely boat ride on a serene lake.”
He wrestles with difficult truth while clinging relentlessly to the gospel and it’s so worth listening to his conclusions.
“I still do not know how to make sense of the combination of kindness and callousness in the same person. But, in truth, the possibility of goodness in those who do evil is not different in principle from the capability of good people to fail us. Things we separate intellectually into neat categories are messy in real life. My neighborhood, then, could be both dangerous and wonderful at the same time. That is why the idea of grace and forgiveness is so important to me. If we are all a mix of good and bad, then there is always a chance that the good might emerge victorious in the end, if we give God enough time to do his work. Patience with broken people and broken things is a manifestation of trust in God.”
His relationship with his father, woven through the whole book, is enough alone to make the book worth reading. And I ached as he shared the grief of watching multiple cousins die or end up in prison.
“We are all responsible for the decisions we make. … But my cousins’ struggles can’t be understood apart from the circumstances that shaped them. In some ways, I see now that I was trying to hold back the tide with a chain-link fence. I could not travel back through time to our childhoods and ask the criminals to stay out of our neighborhoods. … I couldn’t stop the redlining or the policing that pressed down upon us until we broke under the pressure or left. …
“Black kids in my neighborhood didn’t need to hear a speech at family gatherings. They needed a different set of circumstances, one in which hope was not so hard to come by. They needed a path through the wilderness to the promised land. But none of us knew the way. Instead we gave them turkey, collard greens, macaroni, and a game of dominoes a few times a year.”
Please let him tell you the rest of the story.
How Far is a memoir that grew out of a question: Can you give us an example of the worst racism you’ve experienced?
McCaulley politely declined in the public forum. But in this book, prompted in part by the experience of writing his father’s eulogy, he gives, instead, a clear, thoughtful answer to a broader question: What it is like to be a black boy who grows up to be a black man in the United States?
The result is both painful and hopeful and, for McCaulley, grounded in deep faith.
“Where was God on the slave ship, in the cotton fields, in courtrooms where innocent men and women were condemned to death for crimes they did not commit? Where was God when I was a child in need of his protection? There is no Black faith that doesn’t wrestle with the problem of evil.”
Faith passed down through generations told him where to go with his questions about being deserted by his father. “God came to me not with logical explanations of the problems of evil but with his presence.”
McCaulley does give specific examples of racism he’s encountered, but the book is about so much more than individual sins.
“I needed the spiritual resources to forgive or at least to become more than the jumble of grievances I had collected during my twenty-one years on the planet. I didn’t yet have a full understanding of what all this might mean, but that was the beginning of the search for a positive vision of my life that included more than being different from my father.”
He looks back generations to find answers: How could one grandmother turn horror into heroics while his father’s demons turned him into a villain himself?
“Even in the realm of childhood fantasy, monsters and heroes are not just born. They are made. The same trauma that sets the context for heroic bravery also creates the possibility for failure.”
McCaulley is a theologian and teacher whose experiences range from historic Black churches to mostly-white college Bible studies.
“If Black sermons were like a pot of water on a stovetop, beginning cool and working their way to a boil, these talks were a leisurely boat ride on a serene lake.”
He wrestles with difficult truth while clinging relentlessly to the gospel and it’s so worth listening to his conclusions.
“I still do not know how to make sense of the combination of kindness and callousness in the same person. But, in truth, the possibility of goodness in those who do evil is not different in principle from the capability of good people to fail us. Things we separate intellectually into neat categories are messy in real life. My neighborhood, then, could be both dangerous and wonderful at the same time. That is why the idea of grace and forgiveness is so important to me. If we are all a mix of good and bad, then there is always a chance that the good might emerge victorious in the end, if we give God enough time to do his work. Patience with broken people and broken things is a manifestation of trust in God.”
His relationship with his father, woven through the whole book, is enough alone to make the book worth reading. And I ached as he shared the grief of watching multiple cousins die or end up in prison.
“We are all responsible for the decisions we make. … But my cousins’ struggles can’t be understood apart from the circumstances that shaped them. In some ways, I see now that I was trying to hold back the tide with a chain-link fence. I could not travel back through time to our childhoods and ask the criminals to stay out of our neighborhoods. … I couldn’t stop the redlining or the policing that pressed down upon us until we broke under the pressure or left. …
“Black kids in my neighborhood didn’t need to hear a speech at family gatherings. They needed a different set of circumstances, one in which hope was not so hard to come by. They needed a path through the wilderness to the promised land. But none of us knew the way. Instead we gave them turkey, collard greens, macaroni, and a game of dominoes a few times a year.”
Please let him tell you the rest of the story.
October 2, 2023
I listened to the audiobook read by the author which was excellent. Through his narrative and memories I really got insight into the struggles and injustices of growing up black in the American South.
Read
September 18, 2023I don't star my reviews, but I deeply appreciated the chance to engage with Esau McCaulley's story in How Far to the Promised Land.
And listening to it, slowly, not rushing over the pages with my eyes, was such a gift. For the past months, I’ve been soaking in memoir: Daniel Nayeri’s, Beth Moore’s, my own, and now this one, making materials, events. So I was waiting, listening, to know, how will he shape this? I knew almost nothing of his life, except for from your Reading While Black and a few talks. I found moments of fellow feeling (my husband feels about hiking as he does 😊) and a real shared sense of what it means to have a Christian calling just a little off brand from that you grew up in. I felt close to the author in tension before he chose in the French fry moment (wait for it) and in the tension before he said the words “I’m a Christian.” We hope so hard we’ll live out our faith, and the key moments come when we’re not always ready for them. I related to those moments—and the mercy of God—very hard.
I found most meaningful, however, the way EM's story worked through the difficulty of having so many scripts given (his metaphor, “script,” which I found so helpful!), and went back and forth between following a script and hoping it’d work, and needing to go off script, to make new/different meanings. So many scripts and story shapes press on us: do we follow them? How do we navigate audiences that expect certain things from us according to script, that worry about us if we don’t? Economic scripts, racial scripts, the required “I love you” script, the romance requirement scripts, the here’s-what-being-a-Christian-with-a-call script, the personal-responsibility script, the systemic forces script, etc.
And most admirable did I find his increasing sense of the complexity of people’s lives: gambling house and vicarage often are the same house—in all of us. What mercy God has to love us through that.
I'm grateful for this work.
And listening to it, slowly, not rushing over the pages with my eyes, was such a gift. For the past months, I’ve been soaking in memoir: Daniel Nayeri’s, Beth Moore’s, my own, and now this one, making materials, events. So I was waiting, listening, to know, how will he shape this? I knew almost nothing of his life, except for from your Reading While Black and a few talks. I found moments of fellow feeling (my husband feels about hiking as he does 😊) and a real shared sense of what it means to have a Christian calling just a little off brand from that you grew up in. I felt close to the author in tension before he chose in the French fry moment (wait for it) and in the tension before he said the words “I’m a Christian.” We hope so hard we’ll live out our faith, and the key moments come when we’re not always ready for them. I related to those moments—and the mercy of God—very hard.
I found most meaningful, however, the way EM's story worked through the difficulty of having so many scripts given (his metaphor, “script,” which I found so helpful!), and went back and forth between following a script and hoping it’d work, and needing to go off script, to make new/different meanings. So many scripts and story shapes press on us: do we follow them? How do we navigate audiences that expect certain things from us according to script, that worry about us if we don’t? Economic scripts, racial scripts, the required “I love you” script, the romance requirement scripts, the here’s-what-being-a-Christian-with-a-call script, the personal-responsibility script, the systemic forces script, etc.
And most admirable did I find his increasing sense of the complexity of people’s lives: gambling house and vicarage often are the same house—in all of us. What mercy God has to love us through that.
I'm grateful for this work.
September 15, 2023
4.25 stars!
September 18, 2023
Must read!!! One of the most important and valuable memoirs I’ve ever read—up there with Beth Moore and Rachael Denhollander. My respect for Dr McCaulley only continues to increase.
October 21, 2023
The Christian version of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “Between the World and Me”.
June 19, 2024
Esau McCaulley is a gifted writer. I was especially moved by his ability to reflect on his family’s hard history with grace and kindness. He also shares hard stories mixed with practical wisdom on being a Black man in America. I have a feeling I will return to this book as my son grows older.
“Patience with broken people and broken things is a manifestation of trust in God.”
“I still do not know how to make sense of the combination of kindness and callousness in the same person. But, in truth, the possibility of goodness in those who do evil is not different in principle from the capability of good people to fail us. Things we separate intellectually into neat categories are messy in real life.”
“Patience with broken people and broken things is a manifestation of trust in God.”
“I still do not know how to make sense of the combination of kindness and callousness in the same person. But, in truth, the possibility of goodness in those who do evil is not different in principle from the capability of good people to fail us. Things we separate intellectually into neat categories are messy in real life.”
November 7, 2023
Ps 119:111 reads, “Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.” This book beautifully captures God’s redemptive work in the midst of a complicated and messy heritage. McCaulley’s acknowledgement of his father’s sin and further, his response of understanding gives us deep insight into the truth that no one and nothing is out of God’s redemptive reach. Would recommend!
November 9, 2023
This book was written well. McCaulley's prose reminded me of John McPhee. I'm not sure how to put into words how this memoir moved me, but I appreciated McCaulley plainly telling the truth about his life and giving readers the great honor of peeking into his family life. There was so much pain in here, and so much redemption, and so much yet to come. I particularly loved one quote (that escapes my mind at this juncture, though I will return)
February 18, 2026
Audiobook, read by author! I’ve appreciate Esau’s writing and voice elsewhere already but man I loved this. Unfortunately I feel like it takes a lot to move me to tears because I am unsurprised hearing stories of injustice and racism, but when he talks about his cousin being diagnosed with AIDS it made me weep… probably because JT has worked so closely with people with HIV. And when he talks about his cousins. And forgiving his in-laws.
Oh man. Valuable book, valuable voice… grateful he chose to share when he didn’t have too.
Oh man. Valuable book, valuable voice… grateful he chose to share when he didn’t have too.
November 3, 2024
It's so good. Seriously so good. Dr. McCaulley's capacity for telling his story in a way that holds systemic realities, mercy and justice well is absolutely beautiful. I really appreciate how he's able to honestly speak of the painful parts of being human and having loved ones cause hurt while also recognizing growth and mercy and the gift that those loved ones simultaneously are.
October 18, 2024
Esau is one of the most gifted contemporary writers I know. Cannot recommend it enough!
July 10, 2025
I very much enjoyed this account of the intersection of real life and faith, of finding the good and acknowledging the bad, of forgiveness and honesty, healing and hope.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 574 reviews