The Crooked Places Made Straight

“Georgia senator Warnock (A Way Out of No Way) lays out a persuasive Christian case for reforming an America divided by cynicism, inequality, and disconnection . . . Warnock’s view of the current state of the country is both clear-eyed and refreshingly optimistic. A clarion call for a fairer America that speaks to the urgency of the moment.” —Publishers Weekly

“In The Crooked Places Made Straight, Senator Raphael Warnock stands in the ancient shadow of the prophet Isaiah and dares to ask whether America has the courage to straighten what it has allowed to bend. A must read, his words flow like a steady stream of truth; a moral reckoning for the nation’s soul. This book is a prophetic summons to lift the valleys, lower the mountains, and build a beloved community where justice for ‘the least of these’ is an obligation not an aspiration.” —Bishop Vashti Murphy Mckenzie, President and General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA

“With a pastor’s heart and prophet’s conviction, Senator Warnock calls us to meet the crises of our time with biblical hope. Believing in us enough to be unflinchingly honest about how far we’ve strayed, Warnock refuses to give up on America. With faith in God and in the decency of human beings, he shows us a way forward.” —Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, Episcopal bishop of Washington

“This stunning book is at once a testament to a different kind of politics, and an invitation to dream of a different kind of America. Senator Rev Raphael Warnock takes inspiration from the Prophet Isaiah, but it is his prophetic voice that calls us to see ourselves— and our nation— through a moral prism, grounded in the world as it is, and ever imagining the world as it could be. That is the America I want to live in.” —Rabbi Sharon Brous, senior and founding rabbi of IKAR and national bestselling author of The Amen Effect

“Raphael Warnock is the lodestar of our time of holding fast to Christian faith while pressing hard and realistically for the ends of justice. This book is a luminous sermon to the nation on voting rights, gun violence, mass incarceration, poverty, dark-money politics, and the eco-crisis, delivered with Senator Warnock’s characteristic eloquence.” —Gary Dorrien, author of Over from Union Road and Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary

Praise for A WAY OUT OF NO WAY:

“Sparkling . . . In nine engrossing chapters, Warnock offers a narrative of an extraordinary life, from impoverished beginnings in Savannah to his arrival on Capitol Hill. Along the way, he reflects with considerable candor and insight on the meaning and importance of faith, truth-telling and political and social redemption.” —Raymond Arsenault, The New York Times Book Review

“Raphael Warnock’s inspiring memoir arrives just in time to remind us that even in our darkest days, America offers at least as much hope as despair.” —Charles Kaiser, The Guardian

“Warnock’s story is indeed the new American story. Only this time, Horatio Alger hails from the projects . . . reads like a Who’s Who of Black America . . . riveting.” —Tammy Joyner, The Washington Post

“Full of tales about Warnock’s upbringing in a public housing project with 11 siblings and two doting parents, and the go-getter gumption it took to rise to one of the nation’s most important pulpits.” —Greg Bluestein, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Georgia’s first Black senator reflects on family, faith, and democracy . . . A thoughtful celebration of a spiritually rich life.” —Kirkus

“A compelling, insightful memoir that details an extraordinary journey. A remarkable preacher—now politician, who uncharacteristically chooses to take his famous Atlanta pulpit with him to Washington.” —Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy

“In A Way Out of No Way, U.S. senator Raphael Warnock—at once pastor and public servant—demonstrates why he is one of our nation’s most dynamic moral leaders.” —Stacey Abrams, politician and author of Our Time Is Now

“Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock lives his life with a sense of mission guided by his faith. As a preacher standing in the legacy of the King family at Ebenezer Baptist Church and as a United States senator, Raphael Warnock is helping build a better Georgia and America. Warnock’s life is a sermon that we get to witness in his remarkable book, A Way Out of No Way.” —President Jimmy Carter

“Raphael Warnock is a tireless advocate for justice and a true inspiration for countless people, including me. Whatever hope exists for our democracy is traceable to everyday heroes, like Warnock, who are guided by a powerful moral compass and who refuse to surrender to the forces of injustice no matter how long the odds.” —Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

“A story of love, courage, and abiding faith—of a man who has grown into the crown Morehouse College placed above his head. A Way Out of No Way is a powerful sermon from beginning to end. Read it as a prophetic witness and as the story of a pastor who now walks the corridors of power to speak truth and to act on behalf of the least of these.” —Eddie S. Glaude Jr., author of Begin Again

“This book is a harbinger of hope in what sometimes seems like hopeless times. Whether you know him as Senator Warnock or Pastor Warnock, his is a remarkable journey that will touch, enlighten, and inspire you.” —The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church and author of Love Is the Way and The Power of Love

“A Way Out of No Way brilliantly captures the life and upbringing of one of the most unique and inspiring figures in American life over the last half century. Before he blazed a path to Washington, Reverend Senator Warnock charted a course worthy of history books in the quiet dignity of Black sacrifice and struggle, rising from poverty to one of the nation’s foremost pulpits, and now, the Senate floor. This is Black Bildungsroman meets the American hunger for justice, and what a majestic story it is.” —Michael Eric Dyson, author of Long Time Coming

“Warnock’s extraordinary book shows us the way forward to a multiracial democracy in America filled with the children of God.” —Jim Wallis, inaugural chair of Faith and Justice at McCourt School of Public Policy, founding director of the Georgetown University Center on Faith and Justice, and author of America’s Original Sin