In the Desert of Desire: Las Vegas and the Culture of Spectacle

by William L. Fox

Las Vegas, says William Fox, is a pay-as-you-play paradise that succeeds in satisfying our fantasies of wealth and the excesses of pleasure and consumption that go with it. In this context, Fox examines how Las Vegas’s culture of spectacle has obscured the boundaries between high art and entertainment extravaganza, nature and fantasy, for-profit and nonprofit enterprises. His purview ranges from casino art galleries—including Steve Wynn’s private collection and a branch of the famed Guggenheim Museum—to the underfunded Las Vegas Art Museum; from spectacular casino animal collections like those of magicians Siegfried and Roy and Mandalay Bay’s Shark Reef exhibit to the city’s lack of support for a viable public zoo; from the environmental and psychological impact of lavish water displays in the arid desert to the artistic ambiguities intrinsic to Las Vegas’s floating world of showgirls, lapdancers, and ballet divas. That Las Vegas represents one of the world’s most opulent displays of private material wealth in all its forms, while providing miserly funding for local public amenities like museums and zoos, is no accident, Fox maintains. Nor is it unintentional that the city’s most important collections of art and exotic fauna are presented in the context of casino entertainment, part of the feast of sensation and excitement that seduces millions of visitors each year. Instead, this phenomenon shows how our insatiable modern appetite for extravagance and spectacle has diminished the power of unembellished nature and the arts to teach and inspire us, and demonstrates the way our society privileges private benefit over public good. Given that Las Vegas has been a harbinger of national cultural trends, Fox’s commentary offers prescient insight into the increasing commercialization of nature and culture across America.

204 pages, Paperback

First published August 19, 2005

Reviews

[Luke Vanek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a fantastic read! As an obnoxious Vegas local, reading the city through Fox's lens was honestly an eye opener for how art is treated both in Vegas and in general. This idea of the commodification of art rings especially true with AI art on the rise. All the essays were fantastic, and he did a great job of leading one into the next - ESPECIALLY the ones regarding the showcasing of animals in the state. The whole book really got tied together in the end when he was discussing the Persian Rug, and how it was used for so many different things throughout its time. The chapter "Paradise Underfoot" particularly stuck with me with its discussion on art and the passage of time. I would really recommend this book not only for other Vegas locals, but really anyone interested in the city, art history, and just consumerism in general. Great book!

[Graham Bates · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is it possible to write a book about a subject and yet hold most of it in contempt? That's how In the Desert of Desire reads. It's mostly a lament that rich casinomen share art and animals in ways the general public wants to see and pay for. The rest consists of rambling history and travelogue of zoos, art galleries, and whatever else Fox wishes to lionize. I checked it out thinking it would be a good history of Las Vegas but instead he focuses on Steve Wynn and all the things he's done wrong - which is just about everything according to Fox.

Basically a high-culture critic kvetching over the hoi polloi not wanting to consume art in the same way as he. Not really worth the time.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about the great spectacle Las Vegas is and what wonderful attractions they have for the tourists adn I have enjoyed seeing all of them. But then the author talks about the fact that Las Vegas is all show and tell for the tourists and that the town is not invested in making anything like a zoo for the people that live there, because they just want money and prestige. I love going there but would not live there.

[Justus · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting series of essays about art, profit, non profit and the interrelationships of them both. Not a survey or history book per se, but a very readable and interesting overview of how all that collides in Las Vegas and a great introduction to the city.

[Matthew]

Did you ever love someplace and hate it at the same time? What am I saying, probably not.