It Happened In Nevada: Remarkable Events That Shaped History

By Elizabeth Gibson

Book Overview

From Las Vegas to Carson City to Reno and beyond, Nevada has seen more than its share of remarkable events over the centuries, many stranger than fiction. It Happened in Nevada goes behind the scenes to tell its story, in short episodes that reveal the intriguing people and circumstances that have shaped the Silver State and, indeed, America.
Learn how one man's banishment from the Donner Party into the wilderness may have saved his life.
Ride along with "Pony Bob" Haslam, one of the most fearless Pony Express riders there ever was.
Read how Mark Twain's journalistic sojourn in Virginia City may have landed him in trouble but kicked off a luminous literary career.
Get a roadside seat to watch Operation Ranger, the atomic tests of 1951 that were practically promoted as tourist attractions.
Crash the strange and celebrated Las Vegas wedding of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu.
Written in a lively, easy-to-read style, this book features 30 stories written for history buffs of all ages.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0762758716
• ISBN13: 9780762758715
• Release Date: July 2010
• Publisher: Globe Pequot Press
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.3" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

well-researched, easy Western history read

One of the great weaknesses in the teaching of history, by and large, is to believe that we need not be creative in how we go about it. With this book, Gibson has researched and documented a collection of Nevada stories from ancient times to the late 1990s.These thirty quick reads are arranged chronologically and cover events ranging from Anasazi times to the Comstock Lode to the modern speed record attempts at the Salt Flats. The array of topics touched upon is too broad to list here, but ranges from aboriginal to judicial to economic to industrial to political and beyond. In addition to a lengthy bibliography, a nice collection of Nevada-related facts wraps up the book.I find Gibson's approach to debatable historical topics (such as, for example, the fate of Butch Cassidy) to be refreshingly dispassionate; I do not get the impression that she was ever predisposed to any conclusion, and was open to whatever she might discover--an approach too many historical writers fail to emulate. The result is high credibility for that which she presents to us.Maybe some of the greedmongers who run Las Vegas can give a little back to their state by purchasing enough of these for every school in the state of Nevada--it would be a welcome way to interest children in history. Recommended, in any event, for those who appreciate Western history presented with hardly a preconceived notion or bias to be found.