there will be no miracles here: a memoir

The testament of a boy and a generation who came of age as the world came apart–a generation searching for a new way to live. Casey Gerald comes to our fractured times as a uniquely visionary witness whose life has spanned seemingly unbridgeable divides. His story begins at the end of the world: Dallas, New Year’s Eve 1999, when he gathers with the congregation of his grandfather’s black evangelical church to see which of them will be carried off. His beautiful, fragile mother disappears frequently and mysteriously; for a brief idyll, he and his sister live like Boxcar Children on her disability checks. When Casey–following in the footsteps of his father, a gridiron legend who literally broke his back for the team–is recruited to play football at Yale, he enters a world he’s never dreamed of, the anteroom to secret societies and success on Wall Street, in Washington, and beyond. But even as he attains the inner sanctums of power, Casey sees how the world crushes those who live at its margins. He sees how the elite perpetuate the salvation stories that keep others from rising. And he sees, most painfully, how his own ascension is part of the scheme. There Will Be No Miracles Here has the arc of a classic rags-to-riches tale, but it stands the American Dream narrative on its head. If to live as we are is destroying us, it asks, what would it mean to truly live? Intense, incantatory, shot through with sly humor and quiet fury, There Will Be No Miracles Here inspires us to question–even shatter–and reimagine our most cherished myths.

A native of Oak Cliff, Texas, Casey attended Dallas Public Schools before college at Yale, where he played varsity football and co-founded the Yale Black Men’s Union. He later received an MBA from Harvard Business School. Casey is a Senior Fellow of Humanity in Action, a Presidential Leadership Scholars Fellow, and a former Aspen Words Writer-in-Residence. He serves on the board of Kickstarter, PBC.

Casey’s acclaimed essays include “The Black Art of Escape: A New Vision for Black Americans” in New York Magazine, which reflects on the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans’ arrival in Virginia, in 1619. It frames (and re-frames) that event and the history since, and articulates a new vision for black Americans in the 21st century. The essay was featured on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, Amanpour & Company, and MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and was selected by Longform as one of the best essays of 2019. Casey performed a piece based on The Black Art of Escape at the 2019 Pyer Moss Fall Show at New York Fashion Week. His 2021 Texas Monthly cover story on singer Leon Bridges—”Leon Bridges After Dark“—won the 2022 National City & Regional Magazine Award.

Prior to his writing career, Casey co-founded and served as CEO of MBAs Across America (MBAx), a national movement of business students and entrepreneurs working together to revitalize communities. Over three years, MBAs Across America sent 68 MBAs on road trips, traveling 40,000 miles across the country to partner with 73 mission-driven entrepreneurs. This work was chronicled on the TV series, Growing America: A Journey to Success. Casey and the MBAx team turned their program into an open-source model, and helped design a curriculum that lived on at Harvard Business School.