Playing the Odds

Las Vegas and the Modern West

By: Hal Rothman, Lincoln Bramwell (Editor), William deBuys (Foreword by)

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Paperback | 1 October 2007

At a Glance

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284 Pages

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22.86 x 15.24 x 1.63

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"This collection of Hal Rothman's wide-ranging, brash, and brilliant essays on Las Vegas offers up a treasury of insights on the follies and possibilities of the New West. Confident, passionate, learned and, yes, wise, Rothman is simply one of the most important voices writing on the region today. He is also a hell of a lot of fun to read."--Virginia Scharff, professor of history and Director, Center for the Southwest, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and Women of the West chair at the Institute for the Study of the American West, Autry National Center, Los Angeles

"Hal Rothman has been enlightening me, irritating me, surprising me, and making me laugh for twenty years. Reading his columns reminds me why. He has long been one of the brashest, loudest, smartest, and most original voices in the West. Not even ALS could quiet him. These columns aren't the same as talking to him, but they come close."--Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Stanford University

"Hal Rothman is both the greatest Western historian of his generation and an H. L. Mencken in cowboy boots. Here is a magnificent collection of his opinion, wit, and wisdom."--Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums and Buda's Wagon

Industry Reviews

THIS COLLECTION of Hal Rothman's wide-ranging, brash, and brilliant essays on Las Vegas offers up a treasury of insights on the follies and possibilities of the New West. Confident, passionate, learned and, yes, wise, Rothman is simply one of the most important voices writing on the region today. He is also a hell of a lot of fun to read. - Virginia Scharff, professor of history and Director, Center for the Southwest, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and Women of the West chair at the Institute for the Study of the American West, Autry National Center, Los Angeles ""Hal Rothman has been enlightening me, irritating me, surprising me, and making me laugh for twenty years. Reading his columns reminds me why. He has long been one of the brashest, loudest, smartest, and most original voices in the West. Not even ALS could quiet him. These columns aren't the same as talking to him, but they come close."" - Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Stanford University ""Hal Rothman is both the greatest Western historian of his generation and an H. L. Mencken in cowboy boots. Here is a magnificent collection of his opinion, wit, and wisdom."" - Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums and Buda's Wagon

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Earth Sciences, Geography, Environment, Planning Geography Human Geography Economic Geography Politics & Government Regional Government Sociology & Anthropology Sociology Sociology & Customs & Traditions Local & Family History, Nostalgia Local History

History Regional & National History History of the Americas

Las Vegas as first city of the twenty-first century
Introduction : creativity Las Vegas style	p. 3
Gaming the industry	p. 7
The old neighborhood is gone	p. 11
The city's economic skyline	p. 15
Western-style gridlock	p. 18
Senior power	p. 21
Changes on tap in the "New Old West"	p. 24
Why no one gets Las Vegas	p. 27
Thought's on the newest city in the new world	p. 30
Bet on Las Vegas for Western solutions	p. 33
Growth equals worker demand	p. 36
New year's Eve cements Las Vegas's stature	p. 39
Immigration demands attention	p. 42
A little Vegas in everyone	p. 45
Retirement boom, social bust	p. 48
The mall of America has nothing on Vegas	p. 52
Cool market, high prices	p. 55
Clean air act pits the state's tradition v. its future	p. 58
How Las Vegas growth shaped the American downtown	p. 61
The old-fashioned approach to growth	p. 64
An ancient Incan capital reflected in Las Vegas	p. 67
The emerging modern cityscape	p. 70
One step ahead of the game	p. 73
Las Vegas, the chameleon city	p. 76
Las Vegas as community
Introduction : Nevada must end public poverty	p. 83
The rebirth of Bugsy Siegel?	p. 86
Del Webb's impact	p. 90
Stay off TASC	p. 94
Splitting the school district	p. 97
Why Elvis grew into Las Vegas	p. 100
Betting on the Super Bowl	p. 103
Invest big in the convention center	p. 106
There's no slam dunk in Las Vegas	p. 109
Flying to Las Vegas	p. 112
Apathy and the electorate	p. 115
Gaming and technology	p. 118
A scandalous past	p. 120
Follow the governor's money	p. 123
Groping governor?	p. 126
The Western environment
Introduction : goodbye preservation, hello recreation	p. 133
The perils of ecotourism	p. 136
Cash keeps Las Vegas lush ... and it should	p. 151
Stepping on the air hose	p. 161
Las Vegas deserves some credit	p. 164
Power play for a stream	p. 166
Solutions to water overallocation	p. 169
Norton's resignation runs deeper than Norton herself	p. 174
Keep your mitts out of our kitty	p. 178
Dumping nuclear waste	p. 181
Screwing with the American vacation	p. 184
Why we need national parks	p. 187
Coping with wildfires	p. 190
A super regional water authority	p. 194
Looking beyond Las Vegas's borders
Introduction : why this nation needs a statue of responsibility	p. 201
Do we really need the rural West?	p. 204
Western growth and class warfare	p. 207
Las Vegas since 9/11	p. 210
Steamboat Springs's feisty sense of self	p. 219
Put the DOE on trial	p. 224
Learning from Santa Fe	p. 226
HOAs are a necessary evil	p. 229
Remembering the Chernobyl nuclear disaster	p. 232
Remembering Memorial Day	p. 235
A better way to hold elections	p. 238
Fiscal divides in America	p. 241
Are we better off now than we were in 2001?	p. 244
The positive, social value of eminent domain	p. 247
Underhanded tactics by the NEI	p. 250
Returning democracy to the people	p. 253
Disneyland's lesson	p. 256
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Playing the Odds

Las Vegas and the Modern West

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

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