Amazon.com
Former Washington Post reporter Pete Earley, whose several books include a study of Leavenworth Prison, turns his meticulous journalistic eye on yet another notorious venue: Las Vegas. Don't expect him to unearth a spate of scandalous doings, though: Sin City isn't quite what it used to be. "Howard Hughes is now only a historical footnote," Earley writes. "Liberace's trademark candelabra sits in a museum. Elvis has been gone so long that tourists often think his impersonators look more like the King than he did. The old Las Vegas is dead."
The new Vegas, however, is very much alive. In two years of visits, with particular access to the Egyptian-themed Luxor Hotel, Earley gathers a comprehensive history of the city's "gaming" industry, including the biographies of such important figures as the Bellagio's Steve Wynn. He also takes a firsthand look into the lives of several Vegas residents and regulars. The book's chapters, often dense with historical fact, are neatly interrupted by fascinating first-person accounts: an old-time dealer talks about being threatened by Frank Sinatra, a hotel manager at a casino gets chewed out by her boss for renting out a $5,000 room to movie stars, and a cab driver talks about falling out of love with this high-rolling town, though he still tries to get his cut of the money. "The money," he says. "There is so much of it in this town that you learn to close your eyes. I hate it but I can't walk away. Who can?" Perhaps the readers of Super Casino will be able to restrain themselves after they read Earley's explanation of how clearly casino odds are stacked against them. --Maria Dolan
From Publishers Weekly
For a portrait of razzle-dazzle Las Vegas, this is a curiously sober book. Earley, an Edgar and Robert F. Kennedy Award winner (Circumstantial Evidence), gained the cooperation of Circus Circus Enterprises, owners of the new pyramid-shaped Luxor super casino, to write an awkward hybrid of a work: part business history, part vignettes of life in Las Vegas. The first segment, more than one third of the book, tells the history of Circus Circus. It's a solid account of the rise of corporate casinos by Earley, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, but as Vegas tales go, there's nothing hugely dramatic in the Circus Circus story. The book's sprightlier but diffuse second part describes episodes inside the Luxor and the individual characters who populate it: a casino boss, a showgirl, a security guard, etc. Earley showcases some unflattering scenes, such as a security guard's beating of a homeless man, and picks up some only-in-Vegas anecdotes, like the many ways casino dealers have tried to hide stolen chips (e.g., in a brassiere). But only one of these characters is compelling: a young prostitute who opens up to the author to a remarkable degree; surviving the Las Vegas jungle, she trains as a blackjack dealer and ultimately leaves town. Earley does not comment directly on the broader moral issues of gambling: halfway through the book, he quotes a cabbie who says the city is based on greed, but near the end, he cites a Luxor manager who asserts that it's a place "where people come to forget their problems." Andres Martinez's 24/7 (Forecasts, Oct. 25) goes further in conveying the manic energy of Las Vegas, but the city still awaits a stylish chronicler who can fully capture its uniqueness. (Jan.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Earley, who previously took readers inside a major prison (The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth) and a spy ring (Family of Spies: Inside the John Walker Spy Ring), now takes us inside Las Vegas in this well-written, behind-the-scenes look at the machinations of the corporate world of gambling. In an unprecedented move, executives from Circus Circus Enterprises gave Earley (a former Washington Post reporter) carte blanche to attend any and all meetings, to interview staff without fear of reprisal, and to observe life inside the Luxor and Circus Circus casinos. He introduces readers not only to Vegas executives but to dealers, floor managers, and security personnel. We follow a teenage hooker from her arrival in Las Vegas to her exit two years later; we meet a dancer following her dreams; we witness the firing of an employee. By the end, you'll wonder if anyone has a chance to come out ahead against the corporate mafia who have renewed Las Vegas with the Super Casinos that line the Strip. An excellent read, this book is fast-paced, interesting, and credible. Recommended for public libraries of all sizes and for academic libraries, too.-Sandra Isaacson, Las Vegas Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
What's "new" about Vegas? Plenty. Just ask journalist Early, who files a complete and compelling report on the transformation Las Vegas has undergone over the past decade or two. First, some facts: in the 1990s, Vegas overtook Walt Disney World as the most popular tourist destination in the country; also in the 1990s, Las Vegas became the fastest-growing city in the U.S. The "new" Vegas, then, is a tremendous resort city unlike any other. "Anyone," Early avers, "who still thinks of Las Vegas as a holiday haven for pug-nosed mafiosos with bulges under their jackets and suitcases stuffed with cash, or as the scandalous desert playground of Hollywood's rich and raucous, is living in the past." He charts the history of the evolution from old Vegas to new Vegas by focusing on the history of two "supercasino" companies, Circus Circus and Mirage Resorts. The new Vegas caters to the middle-class vacationer more than to the high-roller--each of the huge new casinos is a family firendly, fully equipped resort unto itself. In the second half of his book, Early describes the activities he observed at one of the new supercasinos, the Luxor. Spending time nosing around this gargantuan hotel-casino, he talked to several people who worked there, from the boss himself to security people to hookers plying their trade. Author of The Hot House: Life inside Leavenworth Prison (1992), Early takes readers on an atmospheric trip here that should prove popular, even among those who have not yet taken that magic stroll down the Las Vegas Strip. Brad Hooper
Review
Praise for Super Casino:
"Pete Earley takes an incredibly fascinating subject and makes it mesmerizing. You have to keep reminding yourself that this is fact, not fiction. Super Casino is truly the best book ever written about Las Vegas, and I think I've read them all. This must have been a fun book to research. After I finished it, I called my travel agent and booked a flight to Vegas."
--Nelson DeMille
Book Description
In this lively and probing book, award-winning author Pete Earley traces the extraordinary evolution of Las Vegas -- from the gaudy Mecca of the Rat Pack era to one of the country's top family vacation spots. He revisits the city's checkered history of moguls, mobsters, and entertainers, reveals the real stories of well-known power brokers like Steve Wynn and legends like Howard Hughes and Bugsy Siegel, and offers a fascinating portrait of the life, death, and fantastic rebirth of the Las Vegas Strip.
Earley also documents the gripping tale of the entrepreneurs behind the rise and fall and rise again of one of the largest gaming corporations in the nation, Circus Circus -- to which he was given unique access. In his trademark you-are-there style, he takes us behind the scenes to meet the blackjack dealers and hookers, the heavy hitters and bit players, the security officers, cabbies, and showgirls who are caught up in the mercurial pace that pulses at the heart of this astounding city.
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