by David Littlejohn (Author)
Although Las Vegas is the fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States, with a population of more than 1,200,000, little attention has been paid to that part of the city where people actually live-the city apart from the Strip and the flashy older gambling strip of Downtown. This book representing the work of young reporters from all over the United States who spent the better part of a year examining the Real Las Vegas. Each one looked at a single aspect of life-the lives of teenagers, senior citizens, Mexican immigrants, the homeless, houses of worship, prostitutes, education, labor unions, pawn shops, housing, water supply (in a desert). Eventually they came to realize that no other city could duplicate the Las Vegas experience because no other city has depended for so long on the profits of gambling.
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Edition: illustrated edition
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Published: 01 Sep 1999
ISBN 10: 0195130707
ISBN 13: 9780195130706
There's a strong chance that Las Vegas--boisterous, demotic, a figment of its own imagination, the Elvis Presley of American cities--may be the last metropolis to develop from scratch in these United States. David Littlejohn and his reporters have done a brilliant job decoding the complexities of America's neon-lit post-modern urban enigma. Viva Las Vegas!-- Kevin Starr, State Librarian of California and author of America and the California Dream series