Nevada Books

As a native Nevadan I look for books written about the cities of this state. I've read other books by Robert McCracken and can always depend on clear and concise information. A good read for anyone planning on visiting or just learning about Las Vegas.

Lou DeSerio has an amazing ability to capture feelings and moods in the lenses of his cameras and although the photographs in "Last Look" are black and white, it is nevertheless one of the "most picked up" books on my coffee table. AND, what the hey! It's a BARGAIN, and everyone likes a bargain, right?? I wouldn't hesitate recommending this book it to anyone.
Since owning the book, I have also acquired some of his color work. It's obvious that he is truly a perfectionist at his craft!

I bought this book to read the essay by Tee A. Corinne "Artist's Statement: On Sexual Art". It provided wonderful insight and was entertaining - as a bonus the editor included 6 pages of the author's work (4 of the pieces I had not seen before).

Excellent introduction by the editor.

This is a Keeper!

From the publisher's website -

An overview of the field of lesbian studies, tracing its history and providing a summation of current work.

". . . offer[s] a wealth of information on lesbian and women's history while providing a comprehensive look at a field of scholarship that is certain to continue to grow in influence." --Sojourner: The Women's Forum

The lesbian is now an accepted subject for scrutiny--she exists, but how do we define her history, whom do we include, and when did it begin? These essays, primarily drawn from Feminist Studies from 1980 to 1993, trace lesbian studies from its beginnings, examining the difficulties of defining a lesbian perspective and a lesbian past--a culture, social milieux, state of mind.

Essays range from studies of such well-known figures as the Harlem Renaissance poet Alice Dunbar-Nelson, to studies of specific historical moments, such as the regulation of sexuality in the Women's Army Corp during WWII. Other essays treat well-known authors such as Virginia Woolf and Gertrude Stein, lesser-known writers from the early nineteenth century to the present, Postmodern definitions of the Lesbian "Queer Theory", and Lesbian invisibility.

MARTHA VICINUS is Eliza M. Mosher Distinguished University Professor of English, Women's Studies, and History and Chair of the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan. She is author of The Industrial Muse and Independent Women, and editor Suffer and Be Still and A Widening Sphere.

If you've ever put a quarter in a slot machine, you might have wondered if the game is fixed or if you actually have a chance of winning. You know that the house always has an edge, but you assume you have a chance of winning, otherwise you wouldn't play, right?

In Nevada, where the economy depends on gambling, there are two regulatory agencies, the Gaming Control Board and the Gaming Commission. In general, the Commission licenses casinos and the Board enforces the laws regarding gambling. Together they have a responsibility to make sure the public has confidence in the gambling system.

Jeff Burbank used to be a business reporter for the Las Vegas Sun and then the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the two major newspapers in Nevada. He investigated the casino industry from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. During that time there were a number of landmark cases that the Commission and the Board dealt with. In License to Steal, Burbank describes seven of the most controversial and entertaining cases.

One story tells of the casino owner who had a Nazi memorabilia collection that he liked to exhibit to a few hundred close friends from time to time. He'd throw a party, sometimes on Hitler's birthday, to show off the collection. The parties were held in his casino, but not in public view. Word got around (apparently the collection was really something) and the Commission wondered if it shouldn't do something, since one of their mandates is to ensure the licensees (casino owners and operators) don't do anything to give Nevada a bad reputation. It was a touchy problem: a lot of people were offended, but what about freedom of speech? And wasn't it somewhat hypocritical to censure someone for offensive behavior in Las Vegas, which has a bit of a reputation for bad taste? In the end, they fined the casino owner. Even in Las Vegas, there are limits to bad taste.

Another story explained how a slot machine manufacturer had programmed its machines to make it look as if losing spins had just missed being winners - "near misses." The owners claimed that the machine wheels would spin randomly, as they are supposed to, but that once the spin had randomly been determined to be a loser, the wheels would re-adjust to show a near miss. This made it more exciting for the player, who would play more. But the regulators thought it might compromise the appearance of randomness. They decided the near miss feature would not be allowed, but when the company appealed on the grounds that retrofitting thousands of machines would be too expensive, the Commission cut them some slack. They still went bankrupt.

Then there's the story about a Gaming Control Board employee who found a way to rig the slot machines he tested so they would pay off when a certain sequences of coins was fed into them. Burbank tells how the employee also learned how to predict keno draws, using a computer program, and was trying out the system in Atlantic City, when casino security became suspicious. This was different from the slots - he hadn't rigged the keno game, he was using an algorithm that found an element of non-randomness in the draws and exploited it. I'm not even sure that qualifies as cheating according to Commission rules, but it certainly does by casino rules. The casinos can make up their own rules and anything that gives a player an edge over the casino is considered by the casino to be cheating.

Once Atlantic City authorities notified Las Vegas authorities, the employee's boss at the Board examined the employee's office computer and examined the records of payoffs the machines he had tested and found he and his friends and relatives had been hitting regular jackpots on the machines. This caused a real public relations headache for the Commission and for the casinos. Just the fact that an employee of the commission had been rigging slots for several years was bad enough. But then ABC-TV reported that the employee claimed that commissioners had abruptly stopped an investigation into rigged machines, and that they knew that the jackpot for the Megabucks statewide progressive slots could be triggered from the central computer center, and that several other companies were programming the slots to display illegal near misses. These were claims that should have been investigated immediately and vigorously, if only to maintain the appearance of an honest system. But they weren't.

License to Steal is fun to read as a collection of eccentric character sketches and descriptions of clever scams. But it's also disturbing. The Commission and Board members are all political appointees and the casino owners contribute to most of the political candidates. So when you drop a quarter in the slot and pull the lever (or more likely slip a $20 into the currency scanner and press the button), are you playing a fair game? Or would you rather not know the answer to that question?

Great book on a great American. Our lives are so easy now days. Read this and you can appreciate this!

Every now and then a book comes along that is so well written, so unique, so marvelous that it stays with you long after you have laid it aside. This book is like that. If there is any justice in the publishing world this book will be a best seller and earn a place in the classic catagory. It's that good. Henry Elijah "Lige" Langston was born in 1908 in the Great Basin outback on a homestead. He worked his entire life as a wrangler and rawhide braider in the region known as the Sagebrush Corner of northeastern California and northwestern Nevada. Hussa tells his story with a mosaic of memories blending oral history, storytelling and poetry. Interspersed throughout are Lige's own words which fill in the gaps in an honest, unflinching, matter of fact manner. The character that emerges from the experiences of love, fear, courage, and pride in overcoming adversities of every stripe is one you will never forget. The story of individuals growing up in the West has been told many times. But never like this. This is a gentle, respectful, lyrical book that quietly tells the story of a real man, living in a hostile environment, in a most remarkable manner. Hussa has succeeded in a way most writers strive for but never achieve. Sweet Iron? After reading this masterpiece you will never look at a horse's bridle in the same way.

Little Known Tales In Nevada History by Alton Pryor is an engaging "window in time", leading the reader through Nevada frontier towns that originally boomed during the gold and silver mining era, only to disintegrate into ghost towns as the mines dried up. Readers are treated to revelations in geology locked within earth and stone, as well as exciting tales of train robberies, lynchings, and battles with Indians, and so much more. Black-and-white illustrations pepper this highly enjoyable read, which is especially recommended for its insights into human nature, as well as showcasing the curiosities of Nevada history.

This was a great rural living memoir. I enjoyed the stories about the neighbors and the town's struggles, the different things that Parks learned about animals and plants, and the story of the success of the pottery school that he founded. He's on my list of people I'd like to meet!

I enjoyed reading this book, though it isn't my usual 'thing'. I do love Ireland and it's facinating landscape, but I didn't expect the beautiful prose and haunting images. The absent corncrake comes to mind...once so ubiquitous and now gone; this change perhaps a metaphor for many things extant in Irish life. Reading Micheal Viney's words brought to mind the phrase "God is in the details". A really wonderful read.

One of the most spectacular of the famous California-Nevada pioneers, Elias L. (Lucky) Baldwin's life is truly the story of an unconventional success.

This reprint of Carl Glasscock's biography chronicles Baldwin's early years in San Francisco; his involvement with the famous mines and financial giants of the Comstock; the building of San Fraincisco's first luxury hotel and theatre and Lake Tahoe's premier resort-hotel, Tallac; his numerous love affairs and seductions; and finally, his closing years as a famous Southern California land developer and racing enthusiast.

Lucky Baldwin has been spoken of as "the embodiment of the unmoral frontier" and this story of his life and times, written by an early twentieth century journalist, is a fascinating narrative, mixing history with yarns about people and places in a unique way. This classic is certain to be enjoyed by all who love the Old West.
--- from book's back cover