The Making of Modern NevadaUniversity of Nevada Press, 2010 M09 28 - 192 pages Nevada has always been different from other states. Almost from its beginning, Nevada sanctioned behaviors considered immoral elsewhere—gambling, prize-fighting, brothels, easy divorce—and embraced a culture of individualism and disdain for the constraints of more conventional society. In The Making of Modern Nevada, author Hal Rothman focuses on the factors that shaped the state’s original maverick, colonial status and those that later allowed it to emerge as the new standard of American consumer- ism and postmodern liberalism. Rothman introduces the masters who sought to own Nevada, from bonanza kings to Mafia mobsters, as well as the politicians, miners, gamblers, civic and civil-rights leaders, union organ- izers, and casino corporate moguls who guided the state into prosperity and national importance. He also analyzes the role of mob and labor union money in the development of Las Vegas; the Sagebrush Rebellion; the rise of megaresorts and of Las Vegas as a world icon of leisure and pleasure; and the political and social impact of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. The Making of Modern Nevada is essential reading for anyone who wonders how the Silver State got this way, and where it may be going in the twenty-first century. |
Contents
Making a Territory and a State | |
The Comstock and the Railroads | |
1900 to 1929 | |
Hoover Dam and the Rise of Federal Power | |
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African American arrived Bank Crowd Bank of California became Nevada began boom Bramlet Caesars Palace capital Carson Valley casino claim Colorado River Comstock corporations County created decade desert Desert Inn dollars dominant early economic election enormous federal government Frémont gambling gold Goldfield Governor Hughes Hughes's industry investment Kerkorian labor land Las Vegas Strip later Laxalt legislature McCarran Mexican million mills miners mining Mirage mobsters Modern Nevada Mormon nation Nevada politics Nevada remained nuclear officials opened organized crime party Pension Fund percent Pittman population purchase railroad region Reno revenue Sagebrush Sagebrush Rebellion San Francisco Sawyer shift Sierra Nevada Silver sought southern Nevada Southern Paiute state's statehood strike Strip Teamsters throughout Tonopah took town twentieth century U.S. Senate union Utah Territory Vegas Vegas's Virginia City wealth West western Wingfield workers Wynn Yucca Mountain