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He has done it all. Gordon Parks's life is an astonishing litany of firsts: in the 1940s he was the first African-American photographer to work for the Farm Security Administration and for Vogue and Life magazines; in the 1960s he would become the first African-American director of a major motion picture. A dominating figure in contemporary American culture, he is an artist of uncompromising vision and creativity.

In 2002 Parks received the Jackie Robinson Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame, just the latest in a series of honors that began when he received a prestigious Julius Rosenwald Fellowship in 1941 and which now includes an Emmy, a National Medal of the Arts, and over fifty honorary doctorates. Now in his nineties, he could easily rest on his laurels, but the luminous photographs on display in Eyes with Winged Thoughts and the poems -- some meditative and lyrical, some raw with emotion about the war in Iraq and the tragedy of the tsunami -- show that he is still a true American Renaissance man.

Average Customer Rating:

RIp to a American Treasure	Customer Rating:
Gordon Parks to Me was the Black Andy Warhol. He truly was a Man who was always Hip&Knew what was happening. He was the Pulse of Life in America.Gordon Parks captured so many things through life be it through Photo,Poems,His Films,etc... this Book captures the full beauty of life,Liberty. the Man had a Zest for so much&it comes through loud&Clear in his work. He was a true Pioneer.

A Genius Distilled into Fearless Images & Words

Customer Rating:

Gordon Parks is a national treasure. That surely isn't news. But of all his many volumes (not to mention films, symphonies, photos, journalism, and on and on) this slender and profound volume stands alone in its fearlessness, poetic and heartbreaking beauty, and its unflinching spareness. If not for the wisdom and gravity of his words and images, one would think that the sheer spareness of this book came from a young firebrand. Timeless! He speaks of war, peace, empathy. On a more personal note, there is love: Love of family, friends, the beauty of the world we live in despite -- and sometimes because of -- the squalor or desperate circumstances that coexist with being human. If you never buy another Gordon Parks book, or if you just aren't up to a physically "big" book right now, treat yourself to this. It will be among one of the truly BIGGEST books you will ever luxuriate in.