Las Vegas Babylon is a lively, photo-filled, and entertaining compilation of stories chronicling decades of celebrity scandals, mobsters, true crimes, and decadence in the most notoriously sinful city in the world. Using new information from recently released FBI documents, Burbank brings to life the Vegas mob in its hey-day, recounting never-before-heard tales of the Vegas mobsters who made Vegas what is today.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Vegas-based reporter Burbank aims to cut through the hype that surrounds the country's top tourist Mecca and reveal-in addition to the usual tales of excess and self-destruction-the "seriously malfunctioning society beneath the 'It's Vegas, baby!' façade." Part gossip smorgasbord, part cautionary tale, the book speeds through the city's century-long history, from its mob-dominated early flourishing to the less murderous but still sleazy local politics scene. (Where else are elected officials busted by the FBI in a topless club bribery investigation codenamed "G-Sting?") Burbank has taken his cue (and his title) from Kenneth Anger's iconic Hollywood Babylon, but this work has less of Anger's over-the-top cantankerous style, über-insider posturing and lurid details-it's more of a journalistic reckoning than a dark counter-myth of its own. A large chunk of the book is taken up by a catalogue of Vegas celebrity lore, dishing grand scandals like JFK's troubled affair with a mob moll alongside ridiculous fluff, such as a P.R. confrontation between Robin Leach and Emeril Lagasse over whipped-cream-smothered party girls. Burbank's doggedly contrarian stance is his main asset, and he has thought-provoking points to make on the drastic social and environmental costs of poorly-regulated city expansion and the monopolized local media. It might not attain the cult-classic status of its Hollywood namesake, but readers will enjoy a well-researched volume of lively stories about a city that turned 100 this year, and, like a chintzy lounge singer, shows no signs of slowing down.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
It's an all-you-can-eat buffet of scandal and A-list embarrassment. (Playgirl )
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
I feel dumber for having read this "book",
By
This review is from: Las Vegas Babylon: True Tales of Glitter, Glamour, and Greed (Hardcover)
The stories presented in this cynical, hasty book could have happened anywhere--what does this have to do with Las Vegas? So the mob was involved in Las Vegas--so what? That topic is covered thoroughly in other, better-written books. So casino execs care more about the bottom line than about their customers--is that news? Also, how many times can the author describe casino partons as "losers" and "suckers"? The author then shares bawdy stories of unruly celebs, their sexual obscurities, etc. The author relishes sharing the naughty side of celebrities and politicians but then adopts a high-road attitude as if he's disgusted by them (and by Las Vegas as a whole). Tabloid journalism just to sell some books? Well, whatever sells, I suppose.Many of the vingettes the author includes in this mess have nothing to do with Las Vegas except that the city is where the story happened to take place. The casinos, desert, history, etc. of Las Vegas has nothing to do with many of the chapters. As if the negative tone wasn't enough to prevent people from trodding through this sensationalized tripe, there's roughly 90 typos, grammatical errors, broken sentences, etc. in this book. Maybe next time some of the money spent on the dust jacket design could be diverted to hiring a proof-reader? I'm not exaggerating, by the way. During certain chapters the errors can be found as frequently as every other page. What a waste of time. There's only about 20 other books on Las Vegas that I would recommend before this. Then again if you're hard up for mean, amateurish, and irrelevant writing, this book might be just what you're looking for.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Close, but no cigar...,
This review is from: Las Vegas Babylon: True Tales of Glitter, Glamour, and Greed (Hardcover)
While not the worse book on Sin City, the glaring omission of Vegas' most famous resident is unforgiveable. Reduced to little more than a footnote by the author, its unfathomable that Howard R. Hughes, Jr. would not have at least 2 chapters devoted to his Vegas footprint.Rather than move out of the Desert Inn, Hughes bought it! Hughes didn't even want to move down one floor with no charge for 6 months (ask the author why). With more than a half billion dollars in windfall cash from the TWA judgement, Hughes treated the Vegas Strip like his own personal monopoly board. Even beyond the feat of personally owning more casinos (5 or 6) than any other human on earth, the man NEVER, I repeat, NEVER appeared before the Nevada Gaming Commission (a requirement by law for everbody else but him?). Never mind that he tried to derail the Atomic Energy Commission from testing bombs 90 miles outside Vegas'! He swore out he could feel the earth shaking. Of course, when $100,000 of your money finds its way to 1600 Penn Ave., wouldn't you ask a favor, too? Hughes never set foot in his casinos - he never even set foot on Las Vegas Blvd. In fact, Howard R. Hughes, Jr. never set foot on Nevada soil. He rolled into, and out of, town by private railcar; his Mormon aides carried him by stretcher into, and out of, the Desert Inn penthouse. Howard R. Hughes bought numerous casinos from known mobsters (Big Bob Maheu was the face of HRH), all from the 'comfort' of the blacked-out penthouse he occupied the years he was in Vegas'. The man NEVER saw the Vegas sun. The fact that Mr. Burbank omits each and every one of these 'minor details' is appalling in a book entitled Las Vegas Babylon. It's like leaving Al Capone out of 'Windy City Babylon', or leaving Alfred P. Sloan out of a book on GM. This major omission is a cardinal sin for someone supposedly a journalist. Glad I only paid...
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
IF YOU LIKE VEGAS-YOU WILL LIKE THIS BOOK,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Las Vegas Babylon: True Tales of Glitter, Glamour, and Greed (Hardcover)
EXCELLENT BOOK WRITTEN ABOUT LAS VEGAS AND THE EARLY PIONEERS. WAS VERY VERY FASCINATING IN THE BEGINNING. THEN WENT TO THE POLITICAL SCENE WHICH BECAME VERY BORING AND UN-INTERESTING. THEN IT PICKS UP AGAIN TO TALK ABOUT THE STARS. THE CONCLUSION WAS ALMOST LIKE AN AD FOR THE NEWSPAPERS. HOWEVER, WITH ALL THIS SAID, WAS VERY INTERESTING, INFOMATIVE BOOK. A GOOD READ. I ONLY WISH THE AUTHOR WOULD HAVE GONE MORE IN DEPTH ABOUT THE EARLY AND LATER PERSONALITIES RATHER THAN THE POLITICAL FORUM THAT HE WROTE.COULD HAVE BEEN AN EASY 5 STAR. BUT I WOULD BUY IT AGAIN.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
