Esau McCaulley, author portrait
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Esau McCaulley

Esau McCaulley is The Jonathan Blanchard Associate Professor of New Testament and Public Theology at Wheaton College. He is the author of numerous books, including How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family’s Story of Hope and Survival in the American South, Reading While Black, and the children’s books Josey Johnson’s Hair and the Holy Spirit and Andy Johnson and the March for Justice. A contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, his writings have also appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and Christianity Today.
How Far to the Promised Land

Books

How Far to the Promised Land

2025 Catalog for First-Year & Common Reading

We are delighted to present our new First-Year & Common Reading Catalog for 2025! From award-winning fiction, poetry, memoir, and biography to new books about science, technology, history, student success, the environment, public health, and current events, the titles presented in our common reading catalog will have students not only eagerly flipping through the pages,

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Videos from the 2024 First-Year Experience® Conference are now available

We’re pleased to share videos from the 2024 First-Year Experience® Conference. Whether you weren’t able to join us at the conference or would simply like to hear the talks again, please take a moment to view the clips below.   Penguin Random House Author Breakfast Monday, February 19th, 7:15 – 8:45 am PST This event

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FROM THE PAGE: An excerpt from Esau McCaulley’s How Far to the Promised Land

After his father’s death, Esau McCaulley went back through his family history, seeking to understand the community that shaped him: 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. With profound honesty

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