How Far to the Promised Land

One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South

By: Esau McCaulley

Narrated by: Esau McCaulley

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 exception: 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 this book, 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 all: 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.

©2023 Esau McCaulley (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Esau McCaulley’s riveting memoir holds together tensions that many of us pry apart: systemic injustice and personal responsibility, accountability and forgiveness, honesty and sympathy. This book is prophetic without being preachy, and heartwarming without being cloying. . . . A triumph of storytelling.”—Tish Harrison Warren, author of Liturgy of the Ordinary

“In these pages are words that redeem time and refresh the human spirit. . . . The timeliness of McCaulley’s honest, hope-filled story—told with depth, precision, and purpose—feels like a balm for the weary soul.”—Charlie Dates, senior pastor of Salem Baptist and Progressive Baptist

“With uncompromising honesty and deep introspection, McCaulley complicates the narrative of ‘overcoming racism and poverty as a hero.’ . . . Powerful and necessary.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“McCaulley gives his readers an offering to peer into the window of his soul and that of his southern Black family. It is a story of the convergence of structural racism and the grace of God, which carries them on as they traverse the rugged terrain of life to the promised land.”—Ekemini Uwan, public theologian and NAACP Image Award–nominated co-author of Truth’s Table

Making sense of complex family history

It's so easy for us to categorize people as all good or all bad. In Dr. McCaulley's search to make sense of his family members who seemed to be bad characters, he ends up discovering the stories of his family. His book shares with us his lament, his hope, and where he saw the presence of God.

A real, honest, painful, joyful, generous sharing of a black family’s stories

This book wove together the author’s family story in a way that reminded me that we all have these complex family lineages filled with possibility for redemption and hope right alongside the pain. It was an honest glimpse into the life of a black family in Alabama that I am grateful for him sharing—it has deepened my understanding of what black families in the US south have gone and are going through. And I’m so glad Esau McCaulley narrated his own book. It added so much realness and connection.

Beautifully written

A beautifully written story. I couldn’t stop listening…finished it in one day. I am deeply touched by Esau’s story and even more so by his telling of it. I can’t really do it justice…it is a must read.

Got to know one family a little

As a 67 white woman who comes from a privileged background, I didn’t have the opportunity to make connections with a lot of people who were poor, black, or both. What a loss. I am glad to have at least gotten to know this author’s life and family a little. I appreciate the way he acknowledges that certain aspects of his story could be cast as cliche, while continuing to pull toward nuance and complexity.

An excellent story of Redemption

Esau has woven a captivating story of God at work in the life of a family. Heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. He speaks about race in a way that we can all see ourselves in the story and points us all towards something transcendent.

Beautiful story

Beautiful story of God’s redemptive work in the lives of one family. May we all look at our loved ones with the grace God extends us.

God breaks through the patterns of the world.

How a black man was able to avoid the mistakes of his father. How Hod reached out to the author and guided him through life.

Powerful & Authentic

With grace and authenticity Esau McCaulley shares his story and that of the family that shaped him, offering a glimpse into a world that some of us have never known and will never know. With riveting prose, he invites his audience to a deeper understanding of what it means to be Black in America. With deep wisdom born of hurt, struggle, and love, Dr. McCaulley reminds his audience that people are complex, each with our own stories, and that none of us are beyond the reach of the God of the Exodus.

Awesome story

Loved this book. 2nd book I’ve read by this author. He is a great communicator!

I loved this book!

I’ve been deeply impacted by Esau’s interviews on podcasts and the few New York Times columns that I’ve been able to read of his over the last couple of years. This book is so deeply moving. I shed lots of tears. I can’t wait to share it with others.