{"id":46750,"date":"2026-08-05T21:51:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T01:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=46750"},"modified":"2026-08-05T21:51:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T01:51:00","slug":"review-of-the-crooked-places-made-straight-by-raphael-g-warnock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=46750","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Crooked Places Made Straight, by Raphael G. Warnock"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Crooked Places Made Straight<\/p>\n

Reflections on the Moral Meaning of America<\/em><\/p>\n

by Raphael G. Warnock<\/p>\n

Penguin Press, 2026. 187 pages.
\nReview written July 27, 2026, from a library book.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

I’m going to list this book by the senator from Georgia who is also a pastor with Christian books, but I could just as well put it in the Current Issues section (and that’s where it is on the library shelves). Because yes, Raphael Warnock talks about political issues, but they are also moral issues and issues the Bible speaks to.<\/p>\n

This book looks at America as a great cathedral, 250 years into its construction. But like a cathedral, there’s still plenty of work to do. He uses verses from Isaiah to inspire, notably the one in the title, making crooked places straight. <\/p>\n

He takes a more specific look at six crooked places that we need to work toward straightening: poverty, voting rights, money in politics, mass incarceration, gun violence, and climate change – and how the initial impacts are hitting minorities the hardest. All of these discussions come from a place of deep faith.<\/p>\n

Here’s where he discusses voting rights:<\/p>\n

We are in a rough place right now, fighting to save our fragile democracy. As a man of faith, I often say that I believe democracy is the political enactment of a spiritual idea. It is the notion that each of us has within us a spark of the divine. Therefore, we ought to have a vote and a voice in the direction of our country and our destiny within it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He explains his use of Isaiah’s writings to write a political book.<\/p>\n

Isaiah’s words are so beautiful, so sublime, that they cut right through the hopelessness of a people awash in despair. How we need this kind of bold vision in a moment like our own! The truth is that the partisan and petty rhetoric of politics today is simply too puny a language for the magnitude of the problems we face. Instead, I urge us to look to Isaiah as a lens through which to view the problems that confront us and the possibilities within and around us. The goal of this book is to lay out that vision clearly so that we can work together to build the America that we want to see.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So despite confronting some difficult problems in America today, Senator Warnock writes a book of hope and vision. He makes the reader want to play our part in building a grand and beautiful cathedral formed by “we, the people.” I hope many will read it and be motivated to take action.<\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Nonfiction\/crooked_places_made_straight.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/a> for more reviews and talk about books.<\/p>\n

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Crooked Places Made Straight Reflections on the Moral Meaning of America by Raphael G. Warnock Penguin Press, 2026. 187 pages. Review written July 27, 2026, from a library book. Starred Review I’m going to list this book by the senator from Georgia who is also a pastor with Christian books, but I could just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,26,2,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","category-current-issues","category-nonfiction-review","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46750"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46790,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46750\/revisions\/46790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}