GORDON PARKS is the author of numerous books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and photography, including The Learning Tree and A Choice of Weapons. He is the recipient of a plethora of honorary degrees and awards, including the National Medal of Art. He is also a film director and composer, and wrote the music and libretto for Martin, a ballet honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.

"A fine novel."
THE BOSTON HERALD
Photographer, writer, and composer, Gordon Parks has written a moving, true-to-life novel of growing up as a black man in this country in this century. Hailed by critics and readers alike, THE LEARNING TREE tells the extraordinary journey of a family as they struggle to understand the... Read more

Alone after his mother’s death, homeless in a Minnesota winter, young Gordon struggled to stay in school, working at menial jobs and riding streetcars all night to escape the cold. Refusing to succumb to despair, he instead transformed his anger at poverty and racism into a creative force and went on...