Unreal city : Las Vegas, Black Mesa, and the fate of the West / Judith Nies.

Describes the darker side of the history of Las Vegas and Black Mesa, Arizona, including the relocation of fifteen thousand Navajo to mine coal for cheap electricity for the Vegas Strip and the precipitous drop in the water level of Lake Mead.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nies, Judith, 1941-
Language:English
Published: New York : Nation Books, [2014]
Subjects:
Coal mines and mining > Southwest, New > Political aspects.
Indigenous peoples of North America > Arizona > Black Mesa (Navajo County and Apache County) > Social conditions > 20th century.
Coal mines and mining > Southwest, New > History > 20th century.
Las Vegas (Nev.) > History > 20th century.
New Southwest > History > 20th century.
Black Mesa (Navajo County and Apache County, Ariz.) > History > 20th century.
Physical Description:xxiv, 292 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Format: Book
Contents:
  • Everyone comes for the money
  • Goldwater and the Desert Inn
  • The ladiies from Black Mesa
  • Founding myths : Laughlin, Nevada
  • Gilded age land grabs
  • The Indian lawyer and a brief history of coal
  • The Mormon West
  • Legal theft
  • Learning from Las Vegas
  • Chinatown 2
  • The Bechtel family business
  • Roberta Blackgoat's world
  • Epilogue: who will pay? Gambling on the future.