About the Author

John Blake is an award-winning CNN journalist. He has been honored by the Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Academy of Religion, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the Religion Communicators Council. A recipient of the GLAAD Media Award, he has spoken at high schools, colleges, and symposiums, and in documentaries on race, religion, and politics. Blake is a native of Baltimore, Maryland.

Reviews

“This memoir surprised me over and over again. John Blake’s life reads like a thriller but, like his reporting at CNN, is packed with pockets of compassion and wisdom.”—Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist

“More Than I Imagined is a powerful chronicle of John Blake’s journey that lays out a clear path toward racial healing—not just for his own family but the entire United States.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“John Blake incisively covers news of today’s racial divide, but it’s his own story that truly deserves to be broadcast.”—Heather McGhee, New York Times bestselling author of The Sum of Us

“I tell John Blake things I don’t tell any other journalist. Sensitive to the moment, amid the recent surge of attention given to faith and race, Blake provides the kind of steady and studied analysis that we need to understand these critical topics.”—Jemar Tisby, New York Times bestselling author of The Color of Compromise

“John Blake takes us on a heartbreaking, powerful journey of personal, familial, and possibly national redemption. Truth-telling and working to confront those uncomfortable truths are at the core of this engaging and wrenching memoir.”—Carol Anderson, Ph.D., New York Times bestselling author of White Rage

“More Than I Imagined impacted me far more than I could have possibly imagined. John Blake is spot-on when he writes, ‘facts don’t change people; relationships do.’ I needed this book; our nation needs this book.”—Andy Stanley, pastor, founder of North Point Ministries and author of Not in It to Win It

“More Than I Imagined testifies to the deepest truth that America cannot change unless Americans change. John Blake’s tender, powerful reckoning with his family’s history, secrets, myths, and divisions shows how we as a country can find a pathway to wholeness.”—Eric Liu, author of Become America

“I don’t recall a memoir so substantively shaped by the self-awareness of one’s relationships.”—Scot McKnight, professor at Northern Seminary and bestselling author of Jesus Creed

“Blake’s message of empathetic compassion and coming together as a community is a balm for a divided country that leans on sensationalism, hate, and scare tactics.”—Library Journal, starred review