- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Bulfinch (29 Sep 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0821257145
- ISBN-13: 978-0821257142
- Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 2.5 x 28.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 389,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Book Description
* Las Vegas - the history of a 100-year-old city. Mobsters to showgirls, millionaires to tourists...
Product Description
From Bugsy Siegel to the Rat Pack, Wayne Newton, Vegas showgirls, casinos of epic proportions and light shows that would make the heavens blush, Las Vegas is the most raucous, sinfully fun city in the world. Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the city, LAS VEGAS documents the rollercoaster-ride history of this most outrageous playground - from the Mormom missionaries who came to the area for the natural springs, the mobsters who ruled the city through the 50s, eccentric millionaires buying up casinos like penny candy, monumental gambles, atomic blasts, to the tourists of today looking for fun that can only be found there.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
For devotees of Los Angeles this is a great "coffee table" book, with a great selection of illustrations and giving lots of detail of the formation and history of the town.This is a good book to dip into time and again.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Interesting!
22 Mar 2006
Format:Hardcover
"Las Vegas" provides interesting photos and verbiage covering Las Vegas from its initial start, through the building of Boulder/Hoover Dam, establishment as a "suburb" of L.A., attraction for "quickie" (6 week) divorces, the mob's influx, atomic testing, the "Rat Pack," attraction as a "marriage mill," Howard Hughes, Steven Wynn, imploding old landmarks, and finally the building of new hotels with unique tourist attractions (eg. volcano, pirate ship, art displays, fountains).
Ives also provides several interesting statistical tidbits - Las Vegas slot machines have paid out as much as $40 million to a single winner, and by '04 provided about 2/3 of Las Vegas casino revenue; in '76 nearly half the gross revenue of the 163-hotel Hilton chain came from its 2 L.V. properties; L.V. has 20 of the world's largest 23 hotels; and during the '90s non-gambling revenues began exceeding gambling revenues in Las Vegas.
Ives also provides several interesting statistical tidbits - Las Vegas slot machines have paid out as much as $40 million to a single winner, and by '04 provided about 2/3 of Las Vegas casino revenue; in '76 nearly half the gross revenue of the 163-hotel Hilton chain came from its 2 L.V. properties; L.V. has 20 of the world's largest 23 hotels; and during the '90s non-gambling revenues began exceeding gambling revenues in Las Vegas.
20 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Cool Coffee Table Book about Sin City
3 Jan 2006
Format:Hardcover
I haven't seen the PBS documentary that spawned this companion book, but the book is worth reading and having if you're interested in the history of Las Vegas.
The book covers the founding of Vegas as a town, the construction of Hoover Dam, the flourishing of the Mob, the testing of the atom bomb (120 detonations around 65 miles of Vegas throughout the 1950s!), the Rat Pack, the Howard Hughes period and the Disney-fication of Sin City.
The obligatory PBS Politically Correct chapter on African Americans in Vegas was actually very fascinating. I knew that Sammy Davis Jr. wasn't allowed to stay in the hotels where he performed in the '50s--which was shameful enough--but to read that the Flamingo drained the pool after the gorgeous Dorothy Dandridge swam in it and Lena Horne's sheets were burned rather than put in the laundry ("We don't want to offend the Texans," was the hotel's lame excuse) is shocking and disgraceful.
Definitely a coffe table book with great photos and thick pages. I wish there had been more photos though. As a regular Vegas visitor, I know that town could provide many, many more.
The book covers the founding of Vegas as a town, the construction of Hoover Dam, the flourishing of the Mob, the testing of the atom bomb (120 detonations around 65 miles of Vegas throughout the 1950s!), the Rat Pack, the Howard Hughes period and the Disney-fication of Sin City.
The obligatory PBS Politically Correct chapter on African Americans in Vegas was actually very fascinating. I knew that Sammy Davis Jr. wasn't allowed to stay in the hotels where he performed in the '50s--which was shameful enough--but to read that the Flamingo drained the pool after the gorgeous Dorothy Dandridge swam in it and Lena Horne's sheets were burned rather than put in the laundry ("We don't want to offend the Texans," was the hotel's lame excuse) is shocking and disgraceful.
Definitely a coffe table book with great photos and thick pages. I wish there had been more photos though. As a regular Vegas visitor, I know that town could provide many, many more.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Strongly Recommended
16 April 2009
Format:Hardcover
I bought this book about a year ago when I moved to Las Vegas. It is an extremely interesting and thorough history of the town and it is an easy read. Great reference material for my library. I couldn't put it down. Definitely worth the $40 I paid - a steal at the bargain price.
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