LITERARY LAS VEGAS
Edited by Mike Tronnes
In this futile attempt to review Las Vegas books and yet doing a fair job of caving under the pressure to cover as much of its diversity as possible, I am relieved that someone, more or less, did this job for me 25 years ago, especially the later part. Literary Las Vegas is a 1995 compilation featuring book excerpts and rare articles over the decades that covered many aspects of this place; true stories, autobiographies, musings, humor, fiction, etc,.
There are some familiar pieces like Tom Wolfe's Las Vegas (What?) Las Vegas (Can't Hear You! Too Noisy) Las Vegas!!, Night On The Town from Fear & Loathing, Albert Goldman's Vegas chapter from his Elvis book and Noel Coward diary entries during his engagement at the Desert Inn. In fact, this was the place where I first encountered John Gregory Dunne's Vegas book as the Brother JayJay chapter was used here!
The late Susan Berman's description of her father, gangster Davie Berman, and the role Las Vegas played in her family, Phyllis Barber chronicling the delicate balance between her strict religious parents and The Las Vegas Rhythmettes in How I Got Cultured, & A Alvarez lengthy The Biggest Game In Town that looks into World Series Of Poker and the man who oversaw it, the legendary character Benny Binion, Jim Crow for Black Performers is an oral history on the racism black entertainers faced during the early days are smaller but no less great pieces of the Vegas pie.
Whenever there's a Vegas trip coming up, I usually read this and Fear & Loathing to get me in the mood and to this day, I'm surprised that my battered copy hasn't turned to dust from over reading. This title is a great place to start carving through the pages of this town. Needless to say, it's more essential than a tour book, even AAA ones for that matter!