Nevada Books

Having read both The Guardian and The Protector by Ms. Ruth, I can say I throughly enjoyed both stories. The Protector brings us back into the world of those who protect us against all that goes bump in the night. It is set in today's world, yet all those stories of supernatural beings that are told as myths are real. This is the second book in the series and I hope for a continuation of this world that Ms. Ruth has created. Going back and visiting old friends and meeting new ones was fun. Hopefully she will be able to to write a third story in this series where magic is just around the corner.

Alana is a stage magician in Vegas, but as a descendent of the queen of the fae, she uses real magic. To stay in the mortal realm, an ancestor promised to protect mortals from the Otherworld and keep their secrets. Alana is the current Protector for Las Vegas. Unfortunately, a mortal serial killer is targeting those involved in magic for death, and Alana is the next one on his list. Detective Leo O'Grady is determined not to let another die at the hands of the Claddagh killer, and a fierce attraction develops.

This book was much better than I expected. The author blends the elements of the paranormal, mystery, and romance with great skill. The characters and plot twists are very well done. I have already preordered the next book in the series.

A horrible piece of junk. I bought this book at a Goodwill store for .25 and after reading five pages of it, I wanted to go demand my money back. I can honestly say that this is the worst book that I have ever read. I hope this author doesn't quit her day job!!

In Las Vegas stage magician Alana Devlin performs two shows a night six nights a week. However, what makes Alana different from her performing peers is that she performs her sleight of the hand using real glamour illusions that fool human senses. Alana is the PROTECTOR keeping malevolent otherworldly creatures at bay.

In the garage after a performance, Alana bends down to pick up a gold Irish claddagh charm that someone dropped. That motion saves her life as someone tries to kill her. Using an illusion she manages to escape, but not without suffering a concussion. Police Detective Leo Grady informs Alana that a serial killer has murdered five people associated with the paranormal with her being the token survivor. He places her in protective custody, but watches Alana perform weird actions that shake his logic system to the core, but not as much as his love for the magician does to his heart.

Fans of police procedural romantic fantasies will receive plenty of pleasure from the delightfully charming THE PROTECTOR. The story line is loaded with action as the cop and the performer work together to stop a killer while falling in love. Alana is a great protagonist and her Helper Carrick Murphy is a solid secondary player who needs his own story told. Leo may be reeling with what he sees and hears, but when it comes to his beloved he refuses to accept anything except her safety. Jenifer A. Ruth effortlessly combines the three genres into a wonderful paranormal tale.

Harriet Klausner

Feel like the book is misleading - I'd rate the book cover as "R" - leading me to think it is an adult police-parannormal-romance, but the book itself is more of a PG read. Romance feels rushed - "villian" pretty evident from beginning - almost a Harlequin Romance kind of book. Not that there's anything wrong with that .....

Honest Horses by Paula Morin(oral historian & photographer) is compelling, highly-engaging and a dramatic read.Her creative photos enrich the comprehensive text. What makes this different is Paula's interviews with 62 westerners across a BROAD range-from BLMers, ranchers,environmentalists, Native Americans, historians, wildlife experts, etc The heart-pulling subject of wild horses has never been given such a thorough examination. We have to commend Paula for bringing the subject and all its complexity to us. Highly recommended.

Honest Horses is a definitive book about wild horses in the high desert of the American West. It will open people's eyes. It will open their hearts, too!

More than a century has passed since the official closing of the American frontier, and yet our culture continues to harbor romanticized notions of the West. Included in that image is the idea that wild horses, like the deer and the antelope, still have free run of the range. But do they? And should they?

Oral historian and photographer Paula Morin has assembled 62 narratives from the individuals who are most familiar with the Great Basin area, home to the greatest number of our country's wild horses. This geographical region covers parts of Utah, Idaho, Oregon and California, with its largest portion sitting within Nevada's borders. In each of those states, the wild horse issue is a complex one, complete with firm stands being taken by environmentalists, animal lovers, scientists, ranchers, wranglers, politicians and government workers. We hear many of their voices and their viewpoints in this compendium.

Because the bond between humans and horses is a close and historic one, and because equines are such sizable animals, it's difficult to think of the wild horse as a non-native species to the western region. But as alien invaders often do, wild horses reproduce in such numbers that they wreak havoc on any ecosystem. Aside from the occasional mountain lion or coyote band attack, the horse has no natural predator. The Great Basin simultaneously offers an especially harsh and fragile habitat, with periodic dry seasons and soil that needs time to recover from any kind of disturbance. Anyone can predict the kinds of problems that will arise when too many large mammals are confined to such a delicate area.

Horse history, captivating stories and personal experiences abound as the interviewees speak. A variety of opinions are aired here. But the majority of the individuals agree on at least three points: (a) letting nature take its course isn't a practical or humane solution when hundreds of animals die slow and gruesome deaths; (b) folks outside the Great Basin region don't understand all the complexities of the issue and shouldn't be the primary decision-makers involved; and (c) yes, it's still nice to have the wild horses out on the land, running free.

One Amazon reviewer stated: "To me, wild country, while possibly requiring management and certainly requiring protection, need serve no human purpose. It is sufficient to itself." While I agree that we should preserve as many large portions of land as we can, that's not exactly the point of this book. The region in question has already been impacted by man, both directly and indirectly, by the accidental or deliberate introduction of wild horses. Once the habitat has been tampered with to such a drastic state, all options should be considered to restore its health. Limiting the number of wild horses on the land -- however that can be accomplished -- appears to be a logical remedy.

"Honest Horses" is valuable reading for all of us here in the United States, especially since other books about wild horses, especially those for children, never mention the questions and problems they present. For those of us who live "away," it's easy for us to pass judgment or to think of a possible solution. After reading this book it should be obvious that all the stakeholders must sit down and work out the problem to the best of their abilities. Unfortunately, every environmental challenge turns into a political one.

This odd book isn't about the biology or behavior of mustangs or where to see them. Instead, it is a litany of more or less identical accounts, all of which stress the need to limit mustangs' numbers -- essentially by killing them -- before they overgraze the range and all starve to death.

If the commentators are correct that there are no natural limits on mustangs' population growth (why not reintroduce wolves? Too unpopular with ranchers?), then their arguments seem convincing. I am willing to believe that too many scrub horses are running wild in Nevada and their numbers need to be drastically reduced. However, the total lack in this book of any dissenting argument means my conviction will remain on hold. Every statement here tells the exact same story, and that in itself is something I find questionable.

I've also had enough of people referring to open range and wilderness as "the resource", as if it couldn't possibly manage itself without human interference and in fact had no purpose other than to serve human beings in whatever way; a viewpoint that seems unspeakably arrogant. To me, wild country, while possibly requiring management and certainly requiring protection, need serve no human purpose. It is sufficient to itself.

With a title like this you would expect a fair, even-handed assessment of wild horses in their natural habitat. Instead, what we are served reads more like a government-sponsored justification for the already planned eradication of our wild horses. Not surprising, since a little research shows that government funding went to the author to "research" this work. One-sided and misleading, a disappointment.

I've read and re-read this book several times.
Revere's style is a bit aggressive, but it
apparently reflects the mental resolve necessary
to succeed at playing/counting blackjack.
He knows what he's talking about, and can show
you why and how to learn to play the game flawlessly.
Although most BJ books introduce you to basic strategy
and some sort of counting method, Revere shows you
what it takes to win.
Required reading for all students of the game.

I found this book to be a wonderful challenge. It covers every possible hand to your strategic advantage, and proves the game can be won if you are willing to put in the work needed to learn and practice. This book is still a present day authority on how to beat the game! My soft cover is in color! My condolences to the last reviewer. I have read many books and this is one of the best, no doubt.

In the section titled "A Word on the Construction and Format of this Book" the first sentence reads as follows:

"This book contains 70 charts, 36 of which are in color."

Well, none of the charts in the book are in color. A big disappointment giving the high price of the book.

If the reviews I read are accurate do not buy the republished version [Amazon should love this]; find an older one when it was published by Lyle Stuart. Then you have the benefit of the color charts. Be aware that the man who published under the name Lawrence Revere died of cancer in the late 1970s. But he did write the best tutorial ever on how to beat the twenty-one game by card counting. Revere was a fanatic who believed in study and practice. He first published in 1968, and didn't bother to copyright his writing till the following year. It was, I believe, John Luckman, former dealer at the Dunes and founder of the Gambler's Book Club, who urged him to protect his work. Careful reading of Revere's _Playing Blackjack as a Business_ and of Thorp's _Beat the Dealer_ (both the 1962 and 1966 editions) will teach more about the game than all the other writings combined. For anyone planning to make serious money at blackjack, it would be a mistake not to own and study these three books. The only worthwhile active contributor to blackjack literature writes under the name Stanford Wong. I recommend his software for generating decision tables. Other works I can recommend are the late Peter Griffin's _Theory of Blackjack_ and the late Ken Uston's _Million Dollar Blackjack_. And if you can find a copy (you almost certainly can't) read Dr. Alan Wilson's long out-of-print _Casino Gamblers Guide_ to learn the history of the game and the digital and empirical pioneers who first analysed it. All other writing on twenty-one is eyewash.

When I discovered that a "hard cover" version of Playing Blackjack as a Business was going to be published in September of 1999, I rushed to place my order right away. Never mind that its list price was $ 27.95 plus the usual shipping and handling. Normally, I wouldn't pay attention to such trivial matters, but today I'm fuming and disappointed!

Don't get me wrong! The magic of Lawrence Revere is there still; I don't believe that will ever change. Nor there is anything wrong with the hard of the book is its strategy charts. And that's what got me boiling over. I can't believe it that Replica Books did such a bad job in reproducing them. Their wretched look is an instant turn off, and again that's perhaps the most important part of the book, the meat if I may!

It appears that color charts meant to be reproduced in color were reproduced in black and white. Normally, black and white designs reproduced in black and white come out in good quality. Not so, color designs reproduced in black and white, alas, this book in question.

The quality of the charts is so bad that I decided to return the book for a full refund. Amazon will even refund the postage so that it would be like if I never ordered the book, as one of her courteous representatives has assured me.

For my own consolation, though, I will order the soft cover version to replace my copy that after so many years of giving me the joy in the art of playing blackjack is beginning to fall apart. I know that version has better quality charts in full color

Let me be clear here. I'm a bit of a Mezrich fan. That is, I enjoy his subjects for what they are -quick, entertaining reads because of the sheer audacity exhibited by the people portrayed within his works.

Whether every aspect of his work is true or bears some embellishment hardly matters to me when buying one of his books. I'm just looking forward to reading about the type of life I'll never live but can certainly enjoy vicariously.

Busting Vegas is a good companion to his earlier work Taking Down the House. Mezrich is almost apologetic when he explains why he chose to revisit old ground. The ideal situation would have been if BOTH of these tales were under one cover.

The writing is fine. It could have been more tightly written certainly but the idea is to follow the events as well as put out a product with some length to it.

This is the kind of book you can take to the beach, or on a plane trip as one reviewer noted, and help enhance the time you while away. I deliberated over whether to star this as a 3 or a 4 (Amazon and Netflix need to allow for half a star voting soon); and finally settled on 4 stars as I have qualified this review.

I'm not sure if Mezrich patrols these reviews ever but just in case, I have a request. Could you dig a little deeper into MIT sometime soon? It seems to me this is the second book where a cabal of MIT mad scientists have come together using a cleverly hatched plan to bring ruin to the gambling underworld! Oh okay, maybe it's not as sinister as I wish it to be, but still... SOMETHING is going on at MIT.

Bought this to read on a flight out of Vegas. Regardless of whether the characters in it are true or not, I found the plot to be boring most of the time, predictable all of the time, and gripping none of the time. His writing style is simply awful, and detracts heavily from what little story is there.

Ben Mezrich has made a career of glamorizing geeks as they go from nerdy ivy-league academic overachievers to boyz with toyz (girls, guns, and cash). Along the way as he crafted his page-turners, folks suspect that his earlier career as a novelist is informing or overshadowing his latter career as a Tom Wolfe-journalist of hidden subcultures.

In "Breaking Vegas" (BV) he continues with his well-honed formula, but as transparent as Mezrich's style and agenda may be, he writes a great book. BV follows the arc of the career of Russian émigré and MIT student Semyon Dukach as he and his team mates deploy three probability enhancing strategies over "basic strategy" (Blackjack's -2% probability equivalent optimal strategy). Along the way they meet thugs, casino "hosts," Police, prostitutes, and druggies, making the whole thing as atmospheric as any memory of Vegas you may have.

There are many irritating elements in the work: Mezrich's breast-fetishism for one (not a single female appears in the book without her breasts being described!). But the single most irritating is how much of a "math genius" Semyon is. It is an old literary trope...keep referring to your character as a genius, even if they do ordinary things...surround the character with folks who laud his/her genius...and eventually the reader believes you even if you haven't shown him to be genius. The techniques described in this work are no more genius beyond Statistics 102, and the skills employed are fully confessed to have been honed by sheer repetition, so where's the beef? A competent close-up magician of average intelligence could do this...genius it does not take.

But make no mistake, the book is a fun read. Those parts that are true are interesting and those parts that are embellished, compressed, or narrative devices are all forgivable.

This book claims to be a true story of Semyon Dukach, who bested the world of casino blackjack. Could be true. Maybe it isn't. Doesn't matter. It's a helluva good story about some MIT students who followed a mentor with a new and not illegal system of beating the odds at blackjack. It tracks this team from Vegas to Atlantic City and finally to Europe and Monte Carlo. The Afterword by Mr. Dukach, himself, expains the winning system, so you too can be a big winner at the casinos. Just don't get greedy like he and his partners did. This is an easy, fun, roller-coaster ride of a book.

If you've never read a novel or story by Ernest Finney, do yourself a favor. Tune in: You won't go wrong by starting with California time (or The Lady With the Alligator Purse). This book is a moving and totally compelling read. I've been a big fan of Ernest Finney since the first book of his I picked up (Winterchill). I've read them all and this is his best yet. He is a superb storyteller and his characters stay with you for a long time. I like his sense of humor and his clean, effortless style of prose.

I grew up and still live in the Big Valley where this story takes place and Finney cleverly captures the spirit of the valley's unique mix of cultures. He does this by lovingly weaving his characters through each other's lives and times. We see several different immigrant families struggle through school and adolescence, grow up, fall in love, have their lives turned upside down by World War II, and . . . I can't wait for the follow up novel. I want to know what else happens to Julian (you'll love this guy even if you're not Italian) and Hortense and Reiko and the rest. I hated for this book to end.

This is a narrative of the California's Great Central Valley, told by multiple characters; not always as protaganist. It covers a fairly loose spectrum of time but is primarily anchored in the Depression Era & ends with WW II European campaign coverage. The ending is all at once shocking, sad, hopeful & poignant.

As a longtime resident of the San Joaquin Valley and acquaintance of one family portrayed I was impressed by Finney's capture of the time. He brought the everyday occurrences vividly to life. The Italian food, the process of chrysanthemum culture,and the experiences of the Italian and the Japanese young men in World War II were a rewarding reading experience.

Also worthwhile reading by this author: Words of My Roaring, civilians in wartime San Bruno.

Author Finney shows no real insights into the cultures he seeks to depict in CALIFORNIA TIME. His descriptions are that of an outsider looking in; the result is that his ethnic characters don't really seem to represent their cultures. For example, Hortense is not a typical Portuguese girl growing up in the Valley in the 1930's. In the '30's (and up into the 50's even) Portuguese girls were always chaperoned on their dates; they weren't prone to using the profanity Hortense uses and they were unlikely to go into town with an unsupervised group of friends. The characterization of the Italian and Japanese families rings equally false.

This guide should be renamed "Day Hikes Around South Lake Tahoe." Out of the 21 hikes, only 5 of them are around the North Shore and 3 on the Nevada side of the lake. The rest are all around Emerald Bay and South Lake Tahoe. Aside from this disappointment, each day hike has easy to follow directions and maps.

We thought we were going on an easy, 1.5 hr hike. 3 hrs later, we got back to the car. Problem was that the hike wasn't quite described as accurately as it could have been and there was no warning that we should ignore the trail markers. We got very turned around and had to ignore the map provided in the book and use our common sense to find our way back. (This was the hike at Fallen Leaf Lake)

Tired of guides that list "easy" hikes that turn out to be 8 miles and take 5 hours? Then this book is for you. Most of the hikes listed are 1-3 miles long and can be easily finished by most everyone. Designed for the non-serious hiker who enjoys nature and desires a scenic but not exhausting walk through the woods. This book was designed to be easy to read. It includes large diagrams, elevation changes, trail descriptions, and driving directions. A section of color pictures displays the best vista of each hike. The guide is a good glove compartment companion for any family outing to the Lake Tahoe area.

This is a short guidebook devoted to a subject that deserves volumes: hiking in beautiful Lake Tahoe. This guidebook focuses on a very narrow area of the lake, the South Side, and ignores the Nevada side almost totally. This is an irritating omission, even if the majority of great hikes are on Tahoe's south side. There are also some slightly out-of-the-way hikes (like Desert Rose) which are omitted from the book. The predominant focus of this book is on short, easy hikes, the kind of little forays families can take with their children. Thus the most famous and classic Tahoe hike, Mount Tallac, is not mentioned because it's rated as too strenuous. Tinker Knob, at 14 miles, is also ignored.

These omissions will unsettle veteran hikers with endurance. But for many more casual folk, this guide will fit their needs to a "T." If you're interested in short, scenic and not very strenuous outings, then Stone has provided you a piece of Nirvana. His descriptions of the trailheads and directions on how to reach the hikes are adequate and accurate. He also dispenses advice on bug repellent, sunscreen, band-aids and proper footwear. If you decide to embark on some of these short treks, and your fitness level is good, I urge you to tackle more ambitious peaks at Tahoe, the hiking here is beautiful and among the best in the state. Happy hiking!

Fox's wit, charm, and intellect combine to create a fascinating book that is part memoir and part geography, culture, and history lessons. A rare combination that suits a reader like me who is always looking for books that help me see life through a clear new lens!

Though published by a university press, this is no dry academic tome. It's an unusally creative attempt to capture the spirit and the meaning of the drive through the desert. Fox writes of three approaches to the archetypal desert city, Las Vegas: from Sante Fe, from Los Angeles and from Reno. His writing is personal, captivating and will make you see the desert (and our paths through it) in entirely new ways.

Last November, I flew into las Vegas for the first time on a bright, sunny day. I had my nose pressed to the window most of the way, and was in awe of the what lay below. I followed the roads through the desert that led to Vegas and vowed to make the drive myself some day. I couldn't believe my luck when I happened across this book. But, the book left me bored and disappointed. Maybe I was expecting too much, but even the author's reader-friendly prose could not make this an interesting read.

What a letdown. Yes, the prose is decent, and the premise is undeniably attractive but, for anybody who holds the drive to Las Vegas close to their heart, these 3 separate tales of driving across the desert toward that glittery focal point called Sin City will all leave you feeling cheated. Why? Well, most of all, the author TURNS OFF THE HIGHWAY BEFORE GETTING TO VEGAS! How can you leave out the final 5 miles!? If you have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into a casino, what in the world are you doing writing a book with Vegas at its center? Yes, the author shows that he knows the road, and what the various mountains are called, etc., but he obviously has no understanding of what compels most of us to take that road so many times in our lives. Skip this book and spend the money on a tank of gas yourself. This book has no Elvis.

This book helped me plan a wonderful trip to Las Vegas. I didn't hit it big at te casinos (oh well), but I had a great time! This book was very informative.

This book has it all and more.... broken down by each hotel and includes the attractions/food/shops/gaming/shows available at each location, along with information on the hotel's rooms and rates. Doesn't skimp on knowledge, for example, there's 16 pages on the MGM Grand Hotel alone!! It's somewhat larger than most guide books, so don't think you'll be carrying it down the Strip with you but it's great for gaining an insight to what is available for the tourist at each hotel. The only drawback is that there aren't any color pictures or maps. Other than that, it's perfect!!

This book is not worth the money. The book does not cover downtown and is only broken down by hotel names. No break down of catagories such as restaurants, buffets or other items of intrest. There are much better travel books available! This book was very disappointing.

I'm going to Vegas for the first time very soon, and I admit, I had high expectations of this book. Maybe too high, because the book fell well short of what I was expecting.

First off, it was published in 2000, when the world as a whole was a very different place, not to mention all the changes to Las Vegas since then. Next, yes, it does give very in-depth descriptions of the hotels it covers (which is really only those on the Strip), and the dining options in them. But if you're a Vegas virgin trying to decide where in Vegas to stay based on this book, you'll have a tough time, since all the hotels are comfortable, luxurious, and tastefully decorated, and all the dining is top-rated and cutting edge. As for attractions, those attached to the Strip hotels are given a decent enough description, but the free-standing places are pretty much given just a quick once over.

If you're web-savvy at all, there's no information here that you couldn't get yourself -- and what you'd find online would probably be much more current. If you just HAVE to have a Vegas guidebook, go with "The Unofficial Guide to Vegas." That book is everything I was hoping this one would be.

The Insiders' Guide to Reno & Lake Tahoe stands out as an outstanding tour book. What a pleasant surprise. Most books of this sort are dry and boring but this one is filled with goodies that only locals would know about. The Nightlife chapter stands out as a great piece of writing with an authentic Insiders' voice. The book came in handy on our recent visit to Reno. I would recommend this book tothe first-time visitor.

I bought this book because I had used other Insiders' guides before and this was by far one of the best. I found that this guide had more Insider info than the two others I had purchased. The authors give readers places to go off the beaten path. I especially liked the Kidstuff chapter since I vacationed with my entire family. This guide is well worth the money.

I had used the Insider guide to New Orleans and loved it. So when an opportunity for a trip to Lake Tahoe came up I jumped at the chance to use another book from this publisher.

Unfortunately this book disappoints. Lake Tahoe is a big body of water, right? And bodies of water have beaches. Perhaps you might want to sit on the shore of one of those beaches and relax, read, watch the sun set? Not if you're using this book. I found better guides to the beaches around the lake in the giveway newspaper I picked up ata 7-11 than this book.

Or maybe you'd like to take a hike? Look at that beautiful lake, the georgeous hills, and so on? Again, not from this book. The hiking entries were so skimpy I went down to the chamber of commerce booth in I50 and got handouts for free that were more informative.

I could go on and on, but this book was a real disappointment to me, especially after the New Orleans book that showed me neighborhoods and places I was delighted to find. My advice: if you're going to Tahoe, pick another book!

well, as far as a listing of hotels and properties, okay, this book will do that .. but for "insider" information, you'd do better to ask anyone you meet on the street .. there is no help as far as "what's best" or good deals .. the supposedly "inside" secrets tell visitors to be sure to register for casino slot clubs, but not which one is best. It gives buffet prices, but doesn't direct visitors to the best one.

there's little information about what to expect as far a snowfall goes at the lake, nothing to tell you about driving conditions .. there really is just nothing more than a list of properties. And the photographs aren't even original or helpful, they're all provided by outside sources, such as the visitors bureau or even the resorts themselves. The maps are even less helpful .. c'mon, at least pretend like you care!

The focus of "People of Chance: Gambling in American Society from Jamestown to Las Vegas" is indeed on the affinity between gambling and frontier societies. John M. Findlay, then an Assistant Professor of United States History at The Pennsylvania State University, points to a quotation from Alexis de Tocqueville, who offered this speculation on the American character: "Those who live in the midst of democratic fluctuations have always before their eyes the image of chance, and they end by liking all undertakings in which chance plays a part." Following de Tocqueville's lead, Findlay focuses on the American fascination with games of chance as a key to our natural culture, tracing the development of a distinctly American style of gambling through more than 350 years of history from 17th-century Jamestown to 20th-century Las Vegas.

The central thesis here is that both gambling and frontier societies thrived on high expectations, risk-taking, opportunism, and movement. Consequently, gambling gained an acceptance on the frontier that it did not have in more settled parts of the nation. While Easterners bet too, they did not do it as publicly or adventurously as Westerners. The first half of the book details gambling in the colonial and early national frontiers, on the Mississippi River, and in the California Gold Rush. One of the most interesting arguments in this section is how each generation of westward-moving Americans first attempted to imitate the betting practices of the east, usually English style horse-racing and lottery schemes, but ended up modifying them for the American temperament.

This becomes epitomized by the refinement in the old Southwest between 1800 and 1848 when professional gamblers, operating in towns and riverboats all along the Mississippi, popularized casino games. In the mining frontiers of California and the Far West, casino gambling became a short-lived, high-volume industry, embodying the Gold Rush mentality until society eventually become more civilized. Of course, that did not mean that this was the end of gambling in the West, just that it had to be transformed into something more acceptable for American society in the late 20th century.

The last half of the book focuses on the rise of Las Vegas as the ultimate American resort destination. Findlay argues that Las Vegas is the culmination of almost four centuries worth of westward migration and chance-taking by Americans. As such, Las Vegas is the living link between America's frontier past and the contemporary, forward-looking values of the Sunbelt culture defined by California, which is consistent with Tom Wolfe's "super-hyper-version" of the whole new way of life that Americans created in the period after World War II. In his Epilogue Findlay gets to touch on the meteoric rise of Atlantic City as the rival of Las Vegas, which embodies the newfound belief that gaming now had a more legitimate place in American life.

Most readers will appreciate the history of the first half of this book more than the sociological implications drawn in the second, although most readers will recognize that Las Vegas epitomizes the restless, commercial, and middle-class orientations of modern Americans. But the way these two halves come together is Findlay's argument that the far western location of Las Vegas as an index to national culture was not incidental. What struck me was the way Findlay documented the transformation of gambling in this country, which went through distinctive stages just as the nation did during those same years. By the end of the book I could at least appreciate Findlays' anthropological view of American gaming.

While this book claims to be a history of gambling in American society it really is a history of organized gambling on the American frontier, whereever that may be. While the author presents the interesting idea that gambling has followed the frontier he fails to explain what is happening behind the frontier. Illegal gambling is hardly mentioned, possibily because it is harder to research. It's an interesting book and provides a good bibliography for those interested in pursuing the topic, but alone it is not a great resource.