Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada is perhaps the most fascinating city, in the world to study for the practicing urbanist or sociologist. In the past 20 years, while most small- to medium-sized American cities went into decline, the population of Las Vegas doubled in size to over one million residents. It receives thirty million visitors annually and tourism brought $20.7 billion dollars to the city, in 1995.

This fascinating book provides an insightful look at the uniqueness of the Las Vegas experience and what can be learned from this city, in the desert.

Most writing about Las Vegas focuses on the spectacular story of casino gambling and tourism. This book is different.

Mark Gottdiener is Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department at State University of New York at Buffalo. An internationally regarded scholar, he writes on social theory, political economy, cultural studies, and semiotics. Among his best-known books are The Theming of America (1997), Postmodern Semiotics (Blackwell, 1994), The New Urban Sociology (1994), and The Social Production of Urban Space (second edition, 1994).

Claudia C. Collins is an Associate Professor at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. She worked as an award-winning television journalist in New York and Las Vegas and is presently doing research in the area of health and aging, and population studies.

David R. Dickens in Professor of Sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His primary areas of interest are continental social theory and contemporary mass culture.