Customer Reviews

A Short History of Las Vegas

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This book is a look back at Las Vegas and the area from prehistoric times to the present. It is very informative and packed with information that history buffs will love. It also explains the evolution of Las Vegas from a western town teetering on the edge of becoming a ghost town to the boom that started with the building of the Hoover (Boulder) Dam and continues today. This book is very academic in nature, so you have to love history to like this book. Overall a very interesting book.

The Lands have an easy, breezy writing style. In particular they bring the last 100 years of Las Vegas history alive with many photos of the times and observations of citizens and visitors alike who were there. Although they do not discuss the role the divorce business or the wedding industry played in the city's development (and weddings are associated with Vegas almost as much as gaming), the picture of the city presented here is fun and informative. To quote the authors quoting Steve Wynn, "Las Vegas is a party that never stops. God bless this daffy place."

This books gives an general overall history of Las Vegas and its chameleonistic changes over time. From the dawn of mans first wanderings into the Las Vegas area to modern day gambling mecca and suburban success, this book packs a short, but sweet punch into a somewhat short span. This book is good for people interested in Las Vegas history where general Nevada history leaves off,

During preparations for a trip to Las Vegas, my daughter asked the question: "How did something like Las Vegas end up growing in the desert?"

While I had been to Las Vegas before, I had only vague awareness of the forces driving its explosive growth in the post WWII years. "A Short History of Las Vegas" is an excellent resource for clearing up some of that vagueness.

Myrick and Barbara Land take a straight-ahead chronologically ordered approach to laying out the history of Las Vegas. They begin with the archeological evidence of its pre-history, take us through the first native American, Mexican and European discoveries that have accompanying historical data. Then they walk the reader through the exploration of Fremont, the growth of the railroad (attracted by the fresh water springs that gave rise to the city's Spanish name..."the meadows"), the construction of the Hoover Dam, the growth of legalized gambling and liberalized divorce laws, and WWII and post-WWII growth from the growing entertainment (and organized crime!) and nuclear testing industries. Whew.

They close with another portrait of Las Vegas, the place that houses more than a million residents who not only make the gaming and entertainment industries work, but the place that serves as a suburban home for those who work there.

This is a book that is free of agenda, and doesn't offer a judgement on the goodness --or lack of-- in the illusion-manufacturing that drives much of the regional commerce. There is perhaps a little too much emphasis on the destruction of older gambling properties in favor of describing the town's second and third generation development...but this does not diminish the overall usefulness of the book in grounding the reader in the essential history of Las Vegas.

Whether you've been there, going there, or just have in interest in famous American places: if you want a fundamental understanding of how Las Vegas became what it is today, this book is a good choice.

This history of Las Vegas is indeed short but more important than that, nearly every page is interesting and entertaining. I was not all that impressed with the final chapter about what there is to do and see outside the city which is why this book only gets 4 stars instead of 5. That last chapter seemed misplaced in this book. But the entire rest of the book which tells the history of the city is wonderful. It gives you all the most interesting stories and information without overdoing it. It is just enough for someone who wants an overview of the city but isn't all that interested in becoming an expert.