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 enlarge | Author: John L. Smith
Publisher: Barricade Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $8.99
You Save: $15.96 (64%)
New (26) Used (19) Collectible (1) from $4.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 265631
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6 x 1.6
ISBN: 1569802742
Dewey Decimal Number: 979.3135
EAN: 9781569802748
ASIN: 1569802742
Publication Date: October 25, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Clean, crisp & tight, never read. NO remainder mark! & DJ is very good. Slight shelf-wear. May have remainder mark unless previously noted. Dlvy confirmation within US included. Shipping Fast, except Hawaii and Alaska. Our Provident name: making timely fulfillment & thorough preparation to secure a future together.
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-8 of 8 | | « PREV | | |
 An excellent read and a superb history lesson December 30, 2005
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
With "Sharks in the Desert" John L. Smith wrote one of the best books about Las Vegas ever. This book has a lot of substance and it is full of information. Although it's nonfiction, it reads like a novel. Lots of valuable quality research are packed into the 400 pages. Although we have seen the TV specials about Las Vegas history, it was so refreshing to read John's book -- this is a great read from the first page to the last. The reader learns about today's casino moguls and the harsh but real techniques to separate casino patrons from their money. It also tells the story how like a gigantic masterplan Las Vegas rose from the barren desert into today's Sodom and Gomorrah. Smith is excellent in telling it like it is and this book is a great educational tool for anyone who wants learn more about the meadows, i.e. Las Vegas, and the people who developed this desert oasis in the past and who run this town like clockwork presently.
Casino expert Howard Schwartz says October 14, 2005
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
Sharks' a Fine Vegas History and Biography Combination
by Howard Schwartz
Related Links
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John Smith, one of Nevada's finest newspaper columnists and authors (the Bob Stupak bio, No Limit Stupak biography and the Steve Wynn bio, Running Scared among others) has penned one of the best biography-history combination books ever with Sharks in the Desert: The Founding Fathers and Current Kings of Las Vegas (400 pages, hardbound, $24.95). His book is a new arrival at Gambler's Book Club. It focuses on those folks who made big money in the casino business, or as the publisher (Lyle Stuart) puts it: "From the made men to the corporate tough guys -- they're all here. Things only appear to have changed. The corporate hard-asses have the same goal as the mobsters who preceded them: to make as much money as possible without regard to who gets destroyed in the progress."
How HAS Las Vegas changed since the early days? Who were the visionaries, the entrepreneurs, those who anticipated what it has become today? Also, what changed the perception of Las Vegas as an "outlaw city," to "a community that prospered because it remained intriguing and was able to constantly reinvent itself"?
From Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel, the Flamingo and El Rancho to the earliest days of the Frontier and Stardust, Smith takes us on a historic trip, focusing on the people, their dreams, what went right, what went wrong and how it all led to the Las Vegas we know today.
It's a journey down memory lane with a cast of characters -- some gunned down, others who became billionaires. Packed with photos, a tremendous index of names and places and facts drawn from more than 100 books and other documents, the book presents Johnny Rosselli, Marshall Caifano, Frank Costello, Ralph Lamb, Tony Spilotro, Frank Rosenthal.
There's much territory to cover and yet Smith does it well. He continues with the roles of Moe Dalitz, Estes Kefauver, Jimmy Hoffa, Sid Wyman, Morris Shenker, Howard Hughes as the century rolled on and times changed.
The book shifts to the downtown area with Jackie Gaughan and Mel Exber, back to the Strip for Bill Bennett and Jay Sarno, Ralph Engelstad and Bob Stupak.
Two of the city's most important people who get plenty of attention are Steve Wynn and Benny Binion. Remember Meshulam Riklis at the Riviera? Smith reminds us, while examining what went right and wrong at the original Aladdin, later at the Tropicana. He focuses on the rapid rise of the Fertitta and Boyd families and their many successes, the visionary William Harrah; then moves to "relative newcomers" Sheldon Adelson, Carl Icahn, the Maloof family, Peter Morton (the Hard Rock), and the sometimes mysterious but respected Kirk Kerkorian.
This is one heck of a book about one heck of a city and as one wise guy once said: "... the place (Las Vegas) remains one thing above all else: Irresistible."
The Gold Station Wynn ! September 24, 2005
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is one of the easiest, most organized and fun reads of Las Vegas history that I have ever read. The short chapters easily keep your interest and the way the book is laid outl, you can set it down for a while (although that is not easy to do) and return to it without loosing track of anything. I loved it!
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