{"product_id":"a-choice-of-weapons-9780873517690","title":"A Choice of Weapons","description":"Gordon Parks (1912-2006)--the groundbreaking photographer, writer, composer, activist, and filmmaker--\u003cbr\u003ewas only sixteen in 1928 when he moved from Kansas to St. Paul, Minnesota, after his mother's death. There, homeless and hungry, he began his fight to survive, to educate himself, and to fulfill his potential dream. This compelling autobiography, first published in 1966, now back in print by popular demand and with a new foreword by Wing Young Huie, tells how Parks managed to escape the poverty and bigotry around him and to launch his distinguished career by choosing the weapons given him by \"a mother who placed love, dignity, and hard work over hatred.\" Parks, the first African American to work at \u003ci\u003eLife\u003c\/i\u003e magazine and the first to write, direct, and score a Hollywood film, told an interviewer in 1999, \"I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A perceptive narrative of one man's struggle to realize the values (defined as democratic and\u003cbr\u003eespecially American) he has been taught to respect.\" --\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A lean, well-written memoir.\" --\u003ci\u003eTime\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGordon Parks (1912-2006) was a groundbreaking photographer, writer, composer, activist, and film director. He may be best known for his photo essays for \u003ci\u003eLife \u003c\/i\u003emagazine and as the director of the 1971 film \u003ci\u003eShaft\u003c\/i\u003e. Wing Young Huie is an acclaimed photographer and the author of several books including \u003ci\u003eFrogtown\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLooking for Asian America\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHuie, Wing Young:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Wing Young Huie is an acclaimed photographer and the author of several books including Frogtown and Looking for Asian America.","brand":"Minnesota Historical Society Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50613696594194,"sku":"9780873517690","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ad96be8e-d703-46ea-862b-0f592abdc812.jpg?v=1732414776","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-choice-of-weapons-9780873517690","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}