Las
Vegas : an unconventional history / Michelle Ferrari with Stephen Ives
Arch Bk Stx: F849.L35
F47 2005
from Amazon.com: (comments
from booklist)
Coffee-table format proves advantageous to this colorful, far-ranging tome
on America's capital of civilized sin. Ferrari and Ives start at the beginning
of modern Las Vegas, describing the city's hardscrabble origins and the huge
local tourism market that changes in American leisure, the proximity of spectacular
Hoover Dam, and the legal status of gambling fostered in the early twentieth
century. The many illustrations include plenty of vintage poolside shots
and examples of letterhead stationery and other accoutrements of the Flamingo,
the big casino built by mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel that sparked the building
boom of plush gambling houses. Speaking of Bugsy, one whole chapter deals with
the mobster involvement for which Vegas is nearly as famous as for gambling.
Among tangential phenomena addressed are marriage mills, neon-infused architecture,
the Rat Pack, and the civic-value triumvirate of "sin, gin, and din." A chapter
on Vegas' commonalities with the nuclear industry provides little-known perspective
on the Vegas mind-set, and the epilogue addresses the city's future. Ferrari
and Ives nicely capture the uniqueness of a unique place. Mike Tribby Copyright © American
Library Association. All rights reserved
Table of Contents:
Introduction 6
Chapter 1 The Least Likely to Succeed 11
Chapter 2 Gateway to the Boulder Dam 27
Essay-Poqas to No-Limit Hold 'Em by Jim McManus 42
Sidebar-Slots 48
Chapter 3 A Far-Flung Suburb of L.A. 55
Chapter 4 The Flamingo 70
Essay-Lights by David Hickey 86
Sidebar-Neon 92
Chapter 5 Mobster Metropolis 99
Chapter 6 Atomic City, U.S.A. 115
Chapter 7 The Heart of This Unspiritual Mecca 127
Essay-The Rat Pack by Max Rudin 152
Sidebar-Weddings 158
Chapter 8 The Color That Mattered Most 165
Chapter 9 The Capital of Sin, Gin, and Din 177
Chapter 10 That Billion-Dollar Baby 191
Essay-The Juice by Marc Cooper 202
Sidebar-Architecture 208
Chapter 11 Singrd City 213
Chapter 12 The Most Visited Place on Earth 225
Sidebar-Water 240
Chapter 13 All-American City 245
Epilogue Las Vegas, City of the Future 256
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Las Vegas - An Unconventional
History (2005) DVD
Arch Media F849.L35 L228 2005
Traces
the city's development from its beginnings as a remote frontier
way station to its mid-century florescence as the gangster metropolis known
as 'Sin City' to its recent renaissance as the fastest growing city in the
United States. Produced to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the founding
of Las Vegas
PBS
Description/background information:
"The story of Las Vegas' last hundred years is a distinctly American
saga of optimism and opportunity. By 1999, it had become one of the fastest
growing cities in the United States and could lay claim, in the words of
one historian, to be "the first city of the twenty-first century." American
Experience tells a rollercoaster story, peopled with unlikely heroes and
villains, to trace the city's development from a remote frontier way-station
to its Depression-era incarnation as the "Gateway to the Hoover Dam"; from
its mid-century florescence as the gangster metropolis known as "Sin City" to
its recent renaissance as a corporately-financed, postmodern, desert fantasyland."
from Amazon.com: (review)
"In Las Vegas: An Unconventional
History, the audience gets to see the history while it also touches
on many of the negative aspects of the city such as water shortage, overpopulation,
gambling addiction, and its consequences. It is a clever narrative
that follows a traditional linear approach while every now and then returning
to present day through some interview with different aspects of the
city. When it all comes together it is a very enlightening two part piece
that stretches over three hours, which will offer the viewer a decent
understanding of how Las Vegas grew up from first being a small railroad
intersection to the gambling Mecca of the world." --Amazon.com Reveiwer
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