Among the impossible feats achieved in the history of 20th century
literature (Franz Kafka successfully using a cockroach as a
protagonist, Josef Conrad writing Heart of Darkness outside of
his native Polish tongue, the longevity of Dean Koonz's career),
reducing the history of Sin City to a tear-inducing pile of boredom
seems by far the most difficult to pull off. Yet Geoff Schumacher does
just that in the first few chapters of "Sun, Sin & Suburbia: An
Essential History of Modern Las Vegas" through a sprawling collection
of developer's names and uninspired descriptions.
In drab fashion, we are walked through the early days of Las Vegas as a pitstop for Brigham Young's Mormon followers and railroad workers. From the point when Las Vegas was incorporated as a city in the early 1900's, Schumacher creates a narrative pitting the city's downtown, centered on Fremont St., against the roguish patch of land along Los Angeles highway, which would eventually become The Strip and Las Vegas Blvd., respectively.
As anyone who has been to Las Vegas in the past 20 years can attest, The Strip eventually won the war despite a few minor battle victories for Fremont St. in the form of city and private developer-funded downtown rejuvenation efforts.
Schumacher's historical lesson becomes vastly more interesting when he settles on the eccentric Howard Hughes as Wynn's egotistical predecessor in Sin City. Hughes, whether he was already on the verge of insanity or had a true master plan to develop Las Vegas, is credited with ushering in the corporate era of Las Vegas by purchasing almost every establishment with known mob ties. Schumacher, as he does with Bugsy Siegel, does a good job of dispelling popular notions, pointing out that this was the superficial impression despite continued mob activities beneath the surface.
As is the mantra for so many of The Strip's patrons these days, it's the outside the counts.
Hughes not only paved the way for legitimate entrepreneurship in Las Vegas, but he also unwittingly laid the groundwork for the suburban boom that accompanying the wilde growth 15 years after his death.
Once Schumacher hits the Steve Wynn-fueled second boom of The Strip, this true two-fold nature of the impressive levels of research that went into this book is clear.
With the Mirage and the Bellagio standing in place of the old relics of the 1960's mob era, Schumacher's reporting chops replace his historian's hat. The correlations he draws between the construction industry's boon with the mega resorts on The Strip, the wave of Latino immigrants, and the rush to fill-out the suburban landscape to accommodate the 6,000 new faces a month entering Las Vegas is not new territory. But against the backdrop of the historical context offered earlier, Schumacher actually manages to weave a complete tapestry of the Las Vegan's evolution over time, from frontiersman to gangster to tract-house yuppy.
Though the initial portions drag on, they do serve a purpose in the larget context of the book and when taken as a whole, earn Schumacher the right to use "essential" as part of his book's title.
In drab fashion, we are walked through the early days of Las Vegas as a pitstop for Brigham Young's Mormon followers and railroad workers. From the point when Las Vegas was incorporated as a city in the early 1900's, Schumacher creates a narrative pitting the city's downtown, centered on Fremont St., against the roguish patch of land along Los Angeles highway, which would eventually become The Strip and Las Vegas Blvd., respectively.
As anyone who has been to Las Vegas in the past 20 years can attest, The Strip eventually won the war despite a few minor battle victories for Fremont St. in the form of city and private developer-funded downtown rejuvenation efforts.
Schumacher's historical lesson becomes vastly more interesting when he settles on the eccentric Howard Hughes as Wynn's egotistical predecessor in Sin City. Hughes, whether he was already on the verge of insanity or had a true master plan to develop Las Vegas, is credited with ushering in the corporate era of Las Vegas by purchasing almost every establishment with known mob ties. Schumacher, as he does with Bugsy Siegel, does a good job of dispelling popular notions, pointing out that this was the superficial impression despite continued mob activities beneath the surface.
As is the mantra for so many of The Strip's patrons these days, it's the outside the counts.
Hughes not only paved the way for legitimate entrepreneurship in Las Vegas, but he also unwittingly laid the groundwork for the suburban boom that accompanying the wilde growth 15 years after his death.
Once Schumacher hits the Steve Wynn-fueled second boom of The Strip, this true two-fold nature of the impressive levels of research that went into this book is clear.
With the Mirage and the Bellagio standing in place of the old relics of the 1960's mob era, Schumacher's reporting chops replace his historian's hat. The correlations he draws between the construction industry's boon with the mega resorts on The Strip, the wave of Latino immigrants, and the rush to fill-out the suburban landscape to accommodate the 6,000 new faces a month entering Las Vegas is not new territory. But against the backdrop of the historical context offered earlier, Schumacher actually manages to weave a complete tapestry of the Las Vegan's evolution over time, from frontiersman to gangster to tract-house yuppy.
Though the initial portions drag on, they do serve a purpose in the larget context of the book and when taken as a whole, earn Schumacher the right to use "essential" as part of his book's title.
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