GORDON PARKS

In the ""Black Americans of Achievement"" series, an adulatory but fairly workmanlike portrait of the astoundingly creative photographer, writer, composer, and filmmaker. Berry covers Parks's difficult youth in some detail: after Parks's mother died, a brother-in-law turned him out to make his own way at 16, and he spent much of that Minnesota winter seeking shelter in pool halls and streetcars; his subsequent rise was evidently the result of extraordinary talent, intelligence, and perseverance in the face of prejudice, though Berry doesn't explore these qualities in any depth. Parks's fascinating mind, imagination, and personality remain shadowy here, but the dramatic events in his story and the reproductions of some of his finest photos (the contrast with the other b&w photos included here is telling) should interest readers in his other work, including his famous film version of The Learning Tree (1968) and his several autobiographical books. Chronology; further reading; index.