1. Beyond the Mafia - Las Vegas
Photo Courtesy (University of Nevada Press)
Beyond The Mafia - Italian Americans and the Development of Las Vegas is a fine book by Alan Balboni. His work concentrates on the Italian-American experience in the Southern Nevada town of Las Vegas. Balboni examines the migration of Italian Americans to Las Vegas, especially in the years following World War II, and the role they played in developing the city - especially the casino resort industry. Buy Direct
2. Nevada's Golden Age of Gambling 1931 - 1981
Photo Courtesy (Al W Moe)
The book Nevada's Golden Age of Gambling 1931-1981 is the first book to intertwine old photos with actual stories of how Nevada's casinos started. With 71 vintage photos, the book underscores the first fifty years of Nevada's legalized casino industry with stories from Las Vegas, Reno, Lake Tahoe and Carson City. This book brings the reader closer to what it was like in the casinos of the 1930's and beyond. Chapters include stories on gamblers like Bill Harrah, "Pappy" Smith of Harold's Club, Bill Graham and even Howard Hughes. Buy Direct
3. Mr. Mob
Photo Courtesy of McFarland and Company
Mr. Mob' The Life and Crimes of Moe Dalitz is a detailed, comprehensive look at Las Vegas casino owner and mob boss Moe Dalitz. Although the book covers Dalitz' whole life, much of author Michael Newton's work chronicles Dalitz' rise from a common street thug and rum runner to the most powerful man in the Nevada casino industry of the 1950's and 1960's. Buy Direct
4. The Roots of Reno
Photo Courtesy (Al W Moe)
The book The Roots of Reno tells the story of how the town of Reno grew into "The Biggest Little City in the World" under the watchful eye and iron fist of George Wingfield and his partners, Nick Abelman, Bill Graham, and Jim McKay.
Each of these men made there first strikes in the Central Nevada boomtowns of Tonopah and Goldfield, and settled into Reno and Lake Tahoe Nevada to change the face of casinos forever. Long before Bill Harrah ever heard of Reno, these four men held sway over the town of Reno through hard work, intimidation, and treachery. Banks were plundered, stock investors swindled, and friends like Alvin Karpis, the Barker Gang, and "Baby Face" Nelson came to visit - and help when they could.
The history (with photos) of famous casinos such as the Cal-Neva, Crystal Bay Club, Stateline Country Club, Riverside, Bank Club and the Ship and Bottle is brought back to life in this 250-page book. Buy Direct
5. The Players - The Men Who Made Las Vegas
Photo Courtesy (University of Nevada Press)
The Players - The Men Who Made Las Vegas is a group of short biographies about the casino industry's most powerful and influential owners. Jack Sheehan edited this group of fourteen chapters about early Las Vegas, its first and most powerful casino owners, and some of the men, like Steve Wynn, who have a continuing influence on how the city grows and is seen by the rest of the world. Buy Direct
6. Slot Machines - A Pictorial History of the First 100 Years
Liberty Belle Books
Marshall Fey's Slot Machines is not about casinos in the strictest sense, however, the expansion of casinos and the changing of the guard from table-games to slot machines as the workhorse of the industry is quite evident.
Slot Machines - A Pictorial History of the First 100 Years is now in its Fifth Edition. The first "reel" style slot machine was produced by Charles Fey in San Francisco over 100 years ago. His grandson, Marshall Fey, produced this wonderful book as a tribute not just to his grandfather, but to the ingenuity of the early slot manufacturers like Watling, Mills, Jennings, Caille, Pace and Bally.
The book is huge, 9x12, and runs 250 pages with 630 photographs. There is more about the expansion of slot machines from simple bar-top amusement devices to the main-stay of current day casino revenue producer than in any other book about slot machines, and no other book has anywhere near the breadth of this one. Buy Direct
