Suburban Xanadu - The Casino Resort on the Las Vegas Strip and Beyond

Urban gambling, linked to poverty, crime and corruption, was once considered a blight on U.S. cities. Gambling then followed the exodus of Americans into the suburbs after World War II, and now most Americans live within a four-hour drive of a casino. What explains the success of places like Las Vegas? The self-contained casino resort removes gambling and its social problems from cities and provides Americans the comfort of gambling in a setting matched to their suburban lifestyle. In a detailed look at the growth of the earliest casino resorts to the "pleasure palaces" and riverboat casinos of today, "Suburban Xanadu" locates the rise of the casino resort in suburbanization and the significance of this development for today.

List of contents

Introduction 1. The Righteous and the Wicked 2. The Unwholesome Allure 3. A Fruitful Containment 4. Organizing Luck 5. Wiseguy Empire 6. When the Suits Come Marching In 7. The Casino Archipelago Epilogue: Odds against Tomorrow

About the author

David G. Schwartz is the coordinator of the Gaming Studies Research Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Summary

The self-contained casino resort removes gambling and its social problems from cities and provides Americans with the comfort of gambling in a setting matched to their suburban lifestyle. This study locates the rise of the casino resort in suburbanization and its contemporary significance.

Product details

• Authors: David G Schwartz, Schwartz David G., David Schwartz G
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 03.06.2003
• EAN: 9780415935562
• ISBN: 978-0-415-93556-2
• No. of pages: 255
• Weight: 589 g
• Illustrations: farbige Illustrationen
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Geography; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; USA, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Disease & Health Issues, Anthropology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, Social groups, Illness & addiction: social aspects, United States of America, USA, Health, illness and addiction: social aspects, Social groups, communities and identities