Mario Puzo Inside Las Vegas

by Mario Puzo

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When Don Puzo moves in on Las Vegas, he's not striving for art, but something like that emerges. LAS VEGAS is heavy with color photos by John Launois that are equal to neon, sometimes gimmicky (dice flying into the camera) and no whit personal; the many black-and-white photos, by Michael Abramson and Susan Fowler-Gallagher, try for sadder or richer insights while working under the handicap of NO CAMERA PERMITTED--Las Vegas protects anonymity, losers, and tax-dodgers...many gems of show more storytelling with which Puzo studs his big picture and reveals the backgrounds of girls, personnel, and gamblers; and his myth-popping ironic tone should catch the public fancy. The text is both a natural history of the gambling instinct through the ages and a celebration of its great flowering in Nevada. Puzo himself is a "degenerate gambler" of great ripeness. He's cheated since childhood. Now that he really has some money to lose, he has abandoned gambling in fear of palpable ruin, knowing solidly that he will lose everything. But he believes Vegas operates honestly; the casinos are not armbreaking debt collectors; the town is kept clean in every possible way (no pimps, no streetwalkers). Even readers put off by Puzo's admiringly clear-eyed love for the meretricious will find themselves turning one page more.-- show less

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103+ Works 26,764 Members
Mario Puzo, best known as the author of The Godfather, was born on October 15, 1920 in the Hell's Kitchen area of New York City. He served in the U. S. Army during World War II, and when he returned attended New York's School for Social Research and Columbia University. He wrote pulp stories and edited Male magazine before publishing his first show more novel, The Dark Arena (1955). His works were well-received critically, but failed to generate much revenue until he published his most notable work, The Godfather, which was ultimately made into a trilogy of award-winning movies. Puzo continued writing novels, and his final work, Omerta, was finished not long before his death. He won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in both 1972, and 1974. Puzo died on July 2, 1999 in Bay Shore, Long Island. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Belongs to Publisher Series

Heyne-Buch (5675)

Common Knowledge

Canonical title
Mario Puzo Inside Las Vegas
Original title
Inside Las Vegas
Original publication date
1977
Disambiguation notice
Full title, per the colophon of the hardcover first edition, is Mario Puzo Inside Las Vegas.

Classifications

Genres
Nonfiction, Travel
DDC/MDS
364.1Society, Government, and CultureSocial problems and social servicesCrimeCriminal offenses
LCC
HV6721 .L3 .P89Social sciencesSocial pathology. Social and public welfare. CriminologySocial pathology. Social and public welfare.CriminologyCrimes and offenses
BISAC

Statistics

Members
87
Popularity
366,491
Rating
(3.10)
Languages
Dutch, English, German
Media
Paper
ISBNs
9
ASINs
3