Las Vegas: An Unconventional History Summary and Reviews

Las Vegas: An Unconventional History
by Michelle Ferrari, Stephen Ives

Las Vegas: An Unconventional History
List Price: $40.00
Our Price: $7.99
You Save: $32.01 (80%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.11 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Michelle Ferrari, Stephen Ives
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-10-20
ISBN: 0821257145
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Bulfinch

Book Reviews of Las Vegas: An Unconventional History

Book Review: Cool Coffee Table Book about Sin City
Summary: 4 Stars

I haven't seen the PBS documentary that spawned this companion book, but the book is worth reading and having if you're interested in the history of Las Vegas.

The book covers the founding of Vegas as a town, the construction of Hoover Dam, the flourishing of the Mob, the testing of the atom bomb (120 detonations around 65 miles of Vegas throughout the 1950s!), the Rat Pack, the Howard Hughes period and the Disney-fication of Sin City.

The obligatory PBS Politically Correct chapter on African Americans in Vegas was actually very fascinating. I knew that Sammy Davis Jr. wasn't allowed to stay in the hotels where he performed in the '50s--which was shameful enough--but to read that the Flamingo drained the pool after the gorgeous Dorothy Dandridge swam in it and Lena Horne's sheets were burned rather than put in the laundry ("We don't want to offend the Texans," was the hotel's lame excuse) is shocking and disgraceful.

Definitely a coffe table book with great photos and thick pages. I wish there had been more photos though. As a regular Vegas visitor, I know that town could provide many, many more.

Pop Culture Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Pop Culture Books
Enterprise and Heritage: Crosscurrents of National Culture ImageEnterprise and Heritage: Crosscurrents of National Culture
Routledge; Published: 1991-07-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $150.00
Lichtenstein: Girls (Gagosian Gallery) ImageLichtenstein: Girls (Gagosian Gallery)
Gagosian Gallery; Published: 2008-08-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $49.99
Price in other shops: $65.00
Chris Ware (Monographics Series) ImageChris Ware (Monographics Series)
by Daniel Raeburn
Yale University Press; Published: 2004-10-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.94
Price in other shops: $22.50
Public Art by the Book ImagePublic Art by the Book
University of Washington Press; Published: 2005-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $44.29
Price in other shops: $52.95
Badlands: New Horizons in Landscape ImageBadlands: New Horizons in Landscape
The MIT Press; Published: 2008-07-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.87
Price in other shops: $26.95
Discourses: Conversations about Postmodern Culture (Documentary Sources in Contemporary Art) ImageDiscourses: Conversations about Postmodern Culture (Documentary Sources in Contemporary Art)
The MIT Press; Published: 1989-11-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $25.00
Price in other shops: $40.00
Taking the Train ImageTaking the Train
by Joe Austin
Columbia University Press; Published: 2001-08-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $25.09
Price in other shops: $32.00
The Flash Press: Sporting Male Weeklies in 1840s New York (Historical Studies of Urban America) ImageThe Flash Press: Sporting Male Weeklies in 1840s New York (Historical Studies of Urban America)
by Patricia Cline Cohen, Timothy J. Gilfoyle, Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, American Antiquarian Society
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 2008-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops: $20.00
Enabling Creative Chaos: The Organization Behind the Burning Man Event ImageEnabling Creative Chaos: The Organization Behind the Burning Man Event
by Katherine K. Chen
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 2009-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops: $25.00
Wallbangin': Graffiti and Gangs in L.A. ImageWallbangin': Graffiti and Gangs in L.A.
by Susan A. Phillips
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1999-07-15; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops: $73.00
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Sun, Sin and Suburbia: An Essential History of Modern Las Vegas ImageSun, Sin and Suburbia: An Essential History of Modern Las Vegas
by Geoff Schumacher
Stephens Press LLC; Published: 2010-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.74
Price in other shops: $22.95
A Photo Tour of Las Vegas (Photo Tour Books) ImageA Photo Tour of Las Vegas (Photo Tour Books)
by Andrew Hudson
Photo Tour Books; Published: 2006-11-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.97
Price in other shops: $24.95
Las Vegas Vintage Graphics (Icons) ImageLas Vegas Vintage Graphics (Icons)
by Jim Heimann, Willy R Wilkerson
Taschen; Published: 2003-11-01; Flexibound; Book
Best price: $5.88
Price in other shops: $9.99
Picturing Las Vegas ImagePicturing Las Vegas
by Linda Chase
Gibbs Smith; Published: 2009-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.62
Price in other shops: $30.00
American Experience - Las Vegas - An Unconventional History ImageAmerican Experience - Las Vegas - An Unconventional History
Paramount; Release date: 2005-11-08; DVD
Best price: $13.98
Price in other shops: $24.99
Las Vegas Then and Now ImageLas Vegas Then and Now
by Su Kim Chung
Thunder Bay Press; Published: 2007-06-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.56
Price in other shops: $12.95
The Battle for Las Vegas: The Law Vs. the Mob (True Crime) ImageThe Battle for Las Vegas: The Law Vs. the Mob (True Crime)
by Dennis Griffin
Huntington Press; Published: 2006-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.10
Price in other shops: $14.95
Vegas: The City the Mob Made ImageVegas: The City the Mob Made
Digital1stop; Release date: 2009-07-14; DVD
Best price: $2.27
Price in other shops: $5.98
When the Mob Ran Vegas: Stories of Money, Mayhem and Murder ImageWhen the Mob Ran Vegas: Stories of Money, Mayhem and Murder
by Steve Fischer
Berkline Press; Published: 2005-07-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.50
Price in other shops: $19.95
Las Vegas Then and Now ImageLas Vegas Then and Now
by Su Kim Chung
Thunder Bay Press; Published: 2002-12-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops: $19.95