The Real Las Vegas: Life Beyond the Strip

by David Littlejohn

Book Overview

What images come to mind when you think of Las Vegas?
Mobsters and showgirls, magicians and tigers, multimillion-dollar poker games and prizefights; towering signboards that light up the night in front of ever more spectacular casino hotels.
But real people live here, too--over a million today, two million tomorrow. Greater Las Vegas has long been the fastest growing metropolitan area in America. And almost every aspect of its citizens' lives...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195130707
• ISBN13: 9780195130706
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

An inside view of Vegas

It seems from the reviews that some people were disappointed by this book, but I really enjoyed reading the various essays. The book is a series of journalistic essays from different writers, and each one writes for about 5-7 pages on a specific topic. Some of the topics the book covers are housing/development, water, the sex industry, African Americans in Vegas, crime, growing up in Vegas, etc. Some of the essays were more serious (water) than others (sex industry), but all of them offered a nice insight into the city, especially if you've only been there a few times and have never ventured beyond the strip. I read this book a few months before moving to Henderson, NV., and thought the book was a nice way to get acquainted with the city and what goes on there. This is definitely not a book for tourists or someone planning a trip to Vegas, but more for people who live in the area, people considering moving there, or perhaps people who have visited and developed an interest in the area. It's an easy read, and an enjoyable one.

Refreshingly real and human account of Las Vegas.

Having spent at least 1 week a year in Las Vegas since 1960, the scope and breadth of the "Real Las Vegas" was rewardingly real, and suprisingly interesting and very readible. Staying at the Sands Hotel in the sixties with my family and - the obvious metamorphousis of a few casinos in the desert to what is is today is a marvel and wonder. The 2 reviewers listed seemed to be looking for some explanation or reason for the diversity of L.V.. Answers. Answers - You won't find any here. The stories and straight up, direct, and frank. Real investigative insight into some of the many facets of life in Las Vegas. What I really liked about this book is it's about real people, with real dreams and disapointments. It's about a city that's grown too fast, under the stewardship of gaming, sex and power. It's about the extremes. Las Vegas is a wonderful metephore for the United States society - some are just turned off the the brash and brazen display of human nature Las Vegas encourages. You won't like all the stories, but you will find some very moving people and issues. The introduction is 1 of the best sections in the book. They had to leave out many sories because of space. I hope there's another volumn.