Rough Beauty

A powerful expose of poverty in America. Photographed in Vidor, Texas, Rough Beauty explores the character and burden of a close-knit community branded by its past and its links to the Ku Klux Klan. Behind the stereotype is a town of bootstrappers struggling to get by against a background of crushing poverty reminiscent of the Depression. Dave Anderson is an award-winning photographer, widely tipped as a rising star in the international photo press,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1904587291
• ISBN13: 9781904587293
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Dewi Lewis Publishing
• Length: 118 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 10.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

A former resident's opinion

For me personally, this book was a breath of fresh air. Admittedly Rough Beauty's focus is on Vidor's poverty, but the book tries to show my home town for its humanity. Every other media outlet has shown similar people, but instead has focused their inhumanity. It's a good book and the photographs are beautiful. For anyone from Southeast Texas or anyone familiar with Vidor's reputation, I strongly recommend this book.

Anderson Accomplishes Delicate Balance

I was very impressed with this incredible book with quiet and poetic images. Photographer Dave Anderson is doing what the best and most important photography today does - addressing social issues in a dignified manner. The resulting portrait of Vidor is a difficult but sweet one that presses into details of quiet beauty that we might never see if we were walking through the same streets. I found the photographs of children endearing and sweet. I have never been through the town in question but but love to visit after seeing Anderson's view of the town. I think the people of Vidor would be complemented by this sweet portrayal of a part of their town that is surely ignored by most.

the power of perception

I sound like an NPR nut, but after I heard David Anderson's interview on NRP's Day-to-Day, I had to take a look at this book. Anderson's camera opens our eyes to areas of our world that we overlook, whether it asks us to see a part of the country with a troubled history that we'd rather leave to our own prejudice, or it asks us to find our own inner landscape unexpectedly reflected in the portrait of a stranger. The presentation of Anderson's beautiful photos of Vidor, Texas by Tucker and Anderson are clearly products of a photographer with a thoughtful eye. I hope I'm conveying my enthusiasm well without sounding too thinky-thinky. These photos grab the eye and don't let you sit down. It's themes and beauty are perfect for the holidays-- I'm definitely gifting this book.

Great Work

I grew up and live near Vidor the focus of Dave Andersons book. I can say Vidor does not have the best or reputations in the surrounding areas. Daves work is a poignant look at an area plagued by stereotypes and missunderstandings. His photographs show the area and in such a beautiful way. I'm impressed that he was able to capture the spirit of the area without focussing on the negative aspects the town is so known for.

A Photographer's Photographer

Recalling the great photojournalists of old, Anderson's photographs conjure stories -- great and small, joyous and sorrowful -- of his subjects, though we are to guess them ourselves. The title, Rough Beauty, is apt because while the eye initially falls on the center of a perfectly captured beautiful moment, around the periphery lie markers of a difficult place (poor, small town East Texas) and a difficult time (now). I recommend this work without reservation.