The Last Honest Place in America: Paradise and Perdition in the New Las Vegas (Nation Books)

"The Last Honest Place in America is Marc Cooper's attempt to explore the pull Las Vegas exercises over him, and perhaps, the other tens of millions who increasingly stream into its casinos, clubs, and resorts." "Cooper's journey begins in October 2001 with the dynamiting of the Desert Inn, the moment when old Vegas "cool" died and the new corporate model claimed definitive victory. And then from late 2002 into the summer of 2003, he spent longer and more frequent stretches of time in Vegas, sometimes weeks at a time, moving from one hotel to another, from the glitzy Strip to the frayed downtown, indulging his lifelong love of blackjack, hanging out with mormons, mobsters, MBAs, born-again virgins, strippers, lap dancer union organizers, gambling addicts, priests, and Vegas's colorful and controversial mayor." "As Cooper got deeper into the research, it became ever more difficult for him to separate the work from the rest of his life. Vegas is purposefully constructed as a self-enclosed and isolated bubble environment; its timelessness and placelessness often consumed him, rendering it difficult to distinguish if his project was at its beginning or end. Was he, in fact, working or just playing blackjack, researching or just staying up all night because he was afraid to sleep?"—Jacket.