Award-winning journalist Earley (Circumstantial Evidence, 1995, etc.) takes a long, hard look at the rejuvenated Las Vegas casino industry, from the new breed of Disney-influenced megacasinos to the still-seamy underbelly of need, misconduct, and loss. Earley is a heavyweight reporter, and he gained unprecedented access to the casinos—primarily the oft-beleaguered Circus-Circus conglomerate’so this book is densely detailed. He first reviews the bad old days of Vegas, when mobsters who built their own casinos with Teamsters Pension Funds in the 1950s were forced out by federal pressure by the 1970s, paving the way for mass mergers that both reduced the cash skimming, tax evasion, and brutality, and eradicated most components of the Las Vegas of Hunter Thompson and the Rat Pack. Earley’s central narrative concerns the decades of corporate intrigue that attended the rise of supercasino ventures like Circus-Circus, originally a —grind joint,— versus Steve Wynn’s —high-roller— establishments, like the Mirage. Beginning with Jay Sarno, a lecherous impresario who ushered in the contemporary aesthetic with Caesar’s Palace and the grotesque cement —big top— of Circus-Circus—then within eight years lost control of both—Earley documents the backstabbing and soul-selling that overtook the first generation of megacasino executives. This grim tale is interspersed with Studs Turkel’style personal narratives of casino denizens, most of them revealing and poignant. A widow visits Las Vegas to recall her deceased husband; a teenage prostitute manages to graduate from blackjack-dealer’s school; casino employees struggle with cynicism and conscience. Also more compelling than the corporate swashbuckling are chapters succinctly examining the nitty-gritty of high-tech casino operation: surveillance, security, anticheating measures, and the odd comforts demanded by gamblers. Given that Las Vegas’s latest incarnation appears to be an unstoppable cultural juggernaut, a timely and deft examination of the mechanisms, individuals, and corporate culture that transformed the once risquÇ pursuit of gambling into the glamorized, mainstreamed fantasy of —gaming.—
Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2000
ISBN: 0-553-09502-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999
A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue.
A history of the right to vote in America.
Since the nation’s founding, many Americans have been uneasy about democracy. Law and policy expert Waldman (The Second Amendment: A Biography, 2014, etc.), president of New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, offers a compelling—and disheartening—history of voting in America, from provisions of the Constitution to current debates about voting rights and campaign financing. In the Colonies, only white male property holders could vote and did so in public, by voice. With bribery and intimidation rampant, few made the effort. After the Revolution, many states eliminated property requirements so that men over 21 who had served in the militia could vote. But leaving voting rules to the states disturbed some lawmakers, inciting a clash between those who wanted to restrict voting and those “who sought greater democracy.” That clash fueled future debates about allowing freed slaves, immigrants, and, eventually, women to vote. In 1878, one leading intellectual railed against universal suffrage, fearing rule by “an ignorant proletariat and a half-taught plutocracy.” Voting corruption persisted in the 19th century, when adoption of the secret ballot “made it easier to stuff the ballot box” by adding “as many new votes as proved necessary.” Southern states enacted disenfranchising measures, undermining the 15th Amendment. Waldman traces the campaign for women’s suffrage; the Supreme Court’s dismal record on voting issues (including Citizens United); and the contentious fight to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which “became a touchstone of consensus between Democrats and Republicans” and was reauthorized four times before the Supreme Court “eviscerated it in 2013.” Despite increased access to voting, over the years, turnout has fallen precipitously, and “entrenched groups, fearing change, have…tried to reduce the opportunity for political participation and power.” Waldman urges citizens to find a way to celebrate democracy and reinvigorate political engagement for all.
A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1648-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
Not flawless, but one of the best recent analyses of the contemporary woes of American economics and politics.
Remarkably comprehensive and coherent analysis of and prescriptions for America’s contemporary economic malaise by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Smith (Rethinking America, 1995, etc.).
“Over the past three decades,” writes the author, “we have become Two Americas.” We have arrived at a new Gilded Age, where “gross inequality of income and wealth” have become endemic. Such inequality is not simply the result of “impersonal and irresistible market forces,” but of quite deliberate corporate strategies and the public policies that enabled them. Smith sets out on a mission to trace the history of these strategies and policies, which transformed America from a roughly fair society to its current status as a plutocracy. He leaves few stones unturned. CEO culture has moved since the 1970s from a concern for the general well-being of society, including employees, to the single-minded pursuit of personal enrichment and short-term increases in stock prices. During much of the ’70s, CEO pay was roughly 40 times a worker’s pay; today that number is 367. Whether it be through outsourcing and factory closings, corporate reneging on once-promised contributions to employee health and retirement funds, the deregulation of Wall Street and the financial markets, a tax code which favors overwhelmingly the interests of corporate heads and the superrich—all of which Smith examines in fascinating detail—the American middle class has been left floundering. For its part, government has simply become an enabler and partner of the rich, as the rich have turned wealth into political influence and rigid conservative opposition has created the politics of gridlock. What, then, is to be done? Here, Smith’s brilliant analyses turn tepid, as he advocates for “a peaceful political revolution at the grassroots” to realign the priorities of government and the economy but offers only the vaguest of clues as to how this might occur.
Not flawless, but one of the best recent analyses of the contemporary woes of American economics and politics.Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4000-6966-8
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
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