"Truly the best book ever written about Las Vegas, and I think I've read them all."
--Nelson DeMille
"Revealing and poignant ... with Studs Terkel-style personal narratives. A timely and deft examination."
--Kirkus Reviews
"A fascinating, highly readable mix. Earley's book will probably be the closest anyone comes to getting Vegas
right."
--American Way magazine
"A portrait of razzle-dazzle Las Vegas ... part business history, part vignettes of life."
--Publishers Weekly
"An intoxicating scrapbook of tales and images ... for anyone who has ever wondered what's behind the glittering
lights, marveled at the opulence or been repulsed by the underbelly of 'sin city.'"
--Copley News Service
Publisher Web Site, June, 2003
Summary
In this lively and probing book, award-winning author Pete Earley traces the extraordinary evolution of Las
Vegas -- from the gaudy Mecca of the Rat Pack era to one of the country's top family vacation spots. He revisits
the city's checkered history of moguls, mobsters, and entertainers, reveals the real stories of well-known power
brokers like Steve Wynn and legends like Howard Hughes and Bugsy Siegel, and offers a fascinating portrait of the
life, death, and fantastic rebirth of the Las Vegas Strip.
Earley also documents the gripping tale of the entrepreneurs behind the rise and fall and rise again of one of
the largest gaming corporations in the nation, Circus Circus -- to which he was given unique access. In his trademark
you-are-there style, he takes us behind the scenes to meet the blackjack dealers and hookers, the heavy hitters
and bit players, the security officers, cabbies, and showgirls who are caught up in the mercurial pace that pulses
at the heart of this astounding city.