Las Vegas: 1905-1965

by Lynn M. Zook, Carey Burke, Allen Sandquist

Everyone thinks they know the story of Las Vegas: the showgirls, the gambling, the mob. But Las Vegas has always been much more. Families have lived here since its founding in 1905. After 1931, legalized gaming became the big tourist draw, and following World War II, the town began to market itself as “America’s Playground.” That is when the famed Las Vegas Strip came into its own and downtown was dubbed “Glitter Gulch.” These vintage postcards show how Las Vegas evolved from a dusty railroad town into the “Entertainment Capital of the World,” while remaining a city filled with families and pioneering souls.

178 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 25, 2009

Reviews

[Moira Finnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second volume of Lynn Zook's history of the Las Vegas strip focuses on the shift from pioneering casino developers to the more corporate world that came during the '50s on.

Yet, for all the boardroom machinations that are chronicled in this ebook, a reader is given a chance to see the human face of the people who built the city and worked to keep it afloat in the front & back of the house. Ms. Zook accomplishes this by including more about her own childhood impressions of the community (her mother worked at Caesars Palace & in real estate there).

These personal impressions are enhanced greatly by the inclusion of a remarkable number of oral history interviews with adults who were witnesses to the town's development. The eBook format really works in this history because it expands the reading experience with many videos and very rare images as well as documented historical, incisive detail and amusing anecdotes about the city.

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Las Vegas, 1905-1965 taught me many things. The most shocking is that people moved here in 1905 because there was an abundance of water. Wow! I can’t picture that here. There was a photograph of a fountain with water gushing out of it like you see oil gushers. That was truly something to see. This book is great for history buffs, Las Vegans, and people that have curiosity as to how life used to be here.

[Jasmin Hillary]

A fun and easy plane read I accessed via the Hoopla app. This was a good starting point with amazing pictures might I add, to the history of vegas.

I was surprised it was the biggest growing city of the 20th century and founded in 1905 from an 1800 acre sale via a widow to a Montana Senator. But now I need more, who knows of a quality comprehensive history book on the city of sin?