Question of the Day — 22 Jun 2020
I was wondering if there are any books you could recommend about the history of Las Vegas. Something that would be both entertaining and historical. I have been to the Mob Museum and found that fascinating. There are so many books out there about Vegas I was hoping you had a favorite or two,
Happy to. And not just our choices, but those of other experts as well.
Our number-one choice for a Las Vegas history book that's both enlightening and entertaining is our own The First 100. This was a joint venture between us and the Las Vegas Review-Journal (back in the good old days), so the thumbnail portraits of the men and women who most shaped Las Vegas -- 100 of the most colorful and influential personalities over the past 115 years -- were written by resident historians/reporters and the book is profusely illustrated with archival black-and-white photographs. Best of all, the paperback edition is available now for the ridiculously low price of $5.
Other history books we like include The Money and the Power by Sally Denton and Roger Morris; Lady Las Vegas by our old departed friend Susan Berman; Sin, Sun and Suburbia by Geoff Schumacher; Las Vegas: A Centennial History by Eugene Moehring and Michael Green, and Resort City in the Sunbelt by Eugene Moerhing.
Our colleague Jeff from VintageLasVegas agrees with us about Las Vegas: A Centennial History, which he recommends "for those who want to read about more than just hotels" and says is "the best I know in that category."
Jeff also sent us the following selections.
"My favorites are firmly in the sign & architecture realm:
Viva Las Vegas: After-Hours Architecture (1993) by Alan Hess is now 27 years old, so it's officially out of date by Las Vegas standards, but no one writes about mid-century architecture history like Alan Hess. This book explains better than any how the style of Las Vegas came to be. Hess also wrote a fantastic introduction for Motel Vegas (2019) by Fred Signman, which is my favorite photo book. The worthy successor to Hess's book is The Strip: Las Vegas and the Architecture of the American Dream (2017) by Stefan Al -- very reliable, enjoyable, and up-to-date. The Magic Sign (1993) by Charles Barnard would be my first reply to this, but it's so rare that it's almost cruel to mention it to people. It's my go-to encyclopedia of Las Vegas signs, manufacturers, and designers. I also have a great respect for Larry Gragg's biography of Bugsy Siegel for being accurate.
Another friend, Karen Carmichael, author of Eyes in the Sky (which is extremely entertaining, if not a comprehensive history) tells us, "Su Kim Chung of UNLV Special Collections helped me tremendously to track down photos for Eyes. Her book, Las Vegas Then and Now, is great. And I was recently gifted Healing Las Vegas, by Stefani Evans. The stories and testimonials that accompany the photos in that book are amazing. I must have cried 100 times.
As good as the books are, you can also watch
two excellent documentary videos: 1)
The City of Las Vegas: The Early Years 1905-1920 and 2)
The Twenties. The first 75-minute production premiered on May 15, 2019, Las Vegas' 114th birthday, the second (72 minutes) exactly a year later. Both were funded by the Commission for the Las Vegas Centennial, in part using revenue generated from the special commemorative Las Vegas Centennial license plate, and both are extremely well-done and worth watching. We hope another is released next year.
For anyone who doesn't want to watch the full hour-plus "Twenties" video, here's a
link to a 28-minute truncated "pre-show" version. We also hear that the Commission has funded a "Thirties" version that, perhaps, will be released next May.
How about it, QoDers? Got any favorite Las Vegas history books you'd like to recommend?
Tomorrow's QoD
Wynn Al Marjan Part 2
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