The Grit Beneath the Glitter: Tales from the Real Las Vegas [Hardcover]

Hal Rothman (Editor), Mike Davis
(Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520205294 | ISBN-13: 978-0520205291 | Publication Date: March 4, 2002 | Edition: 1

The Grit Beneath the Glitter is the first real look at the new Las Vegas from the inside. In it, long-time residents as well as professionals reflect on the transformation of one of the fastest-growing and most famous cities on earth, yet one about which relatively little is known. They offer a lively and compelling portrait of the other side of Las Vegas: the people and institutions that support the glitter of the gaming and entertainment industry. Examining a range of topics--from the city's commercial history, labor conditions, and environmental problems to an analysis of the famous lights of the Strip--the contributors uncover the contradictions between the illusion and the reality of the city, the seam between fantasy and the life it masks. The essays in this collection explore the world that employees experience when they enter gaming palaces from an employee entrance in a back parking lot rather than through the scripted doors of casino/hotel palaces. They take readers into the neighborhoods where 1.4 million Americans now live, attend school, eat dinner, and go to work.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

From casinos and showgirls to culinary workers and academic life, this anthology gives us Las Vegas from the perspective of the people who call it home. Many of the articles are scholarly in nature (editor Rothman is a history professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas), while others come in the form of personal essays. The quality of the scholarly pieces is high; the personal essays range from moving and insightful to just plain dull. While celebrated journalist Davis is a coeditor and contributor, there is nothing new from him here, only reprints of magazine articles now a decade old. Still, his name will increase the demand for and visibility of the collection. Recommended for libraries in the West but an optional purchase for everyone else. Andrew Brodie Smith, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lib., Washington, DC
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A corrective to half a century of mystification and myth-making about America's fastest-growing city and the world's most popular destination." -- Jonathan Kirsch, Los Angeles Times Book Review

"[B]alance[s] quirkiness with intelligence and skepticism with curiosity, avoiding the twin pitfalls of academic jargon and light-handed dismissal." -- Doubletake magazine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (March 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520205294
• ISBN-13: 978-0520205291
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,807,999 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mike Davis is the author of several books including City of Quartz, Ecology of Fear, Late Victorian Holocausts, Planet of Slums, and Magical Urbanism. He was recently awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. He lives in Papa'aloa, Hawaii.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A union-based perspective on Las Vegas, April 7, 2002

By 

saskatoonguy (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Grit Beneath the Glitter: Tales from the Real Las Vegas (Paperback)

This book consists of 22 articles and over 60 b&w photos covering organized labor, feminism, and state politics. It is uneven in style and tone, ranging from first-person narratives to academic essays. The focus of the book is the city's underclass, which seems to be defined as unionized casino workers. (Many of these writers are oblivious that there are several strata of less-well-off people below unionized employees.) Much of the book is a paean to organized labor. For example, the longest article is titled "The Recent History of the Culinary Union in Las Vegas." Entrepreneurs are the villains of this book, while the heros are union leaders and (perversely) mafioso - there is some nostalgia for the good old days when gangsters ran a tight ship and took care of the little people.

The most touching essay is by Constance Devereaux who writes of her experiences conducting a class inside a Nevada prison, juxtaposed with her finding the body of her murdered husband in their bedroom as a result of a bungled burglary.