Review of The Players: The Men Who Made Las Vegas
- Title:
- The Players: The Men Who Made Las Vegas
- Author:
- Edited by Jack Sheehan
- Publisher:
- University of Nevada Press
- Date:
- 1997
- ISBN:
- 0-87417-306-X
- Pages:
- 224
- Price:
- $17.09
December 6, 2001
The Players is a compendium of several mini-biographies
of people who have greatly influenced the landscape of gambling in
Las Vegas. Several writers contributed sections to this work,
including John L. Smith, well-known columnist for the Las Vegas
Review-Journal, and Jack Sheehan, the editor of the book.
While many of
the figures chronicled in this book have been profiled elsewhere,
some, like Howard Hughes or Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegal, very extensively,
others are less well known outside of the casino community. A standout
in this manner is the essay on billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, majority
shareholder of the MGM Mirage corporation. Kerkorian has protected
his privacy almost to the point of reclusivity, but agreed to an
almost unprecedented
hour-long interview for this book. Even though it would seem that he
still didn't elect to disclose very much about himself or his life, this
is still probably the most complete profile I've seen of this man.
Other Las Vegas casino luminaries who are profiled in The Players
include Jackie Gaughan and Sam Boyd, two moguls who have not received
the widespread attention that other casino owners, such as Steve Wynn
or Jay Sarno, have. Of course, Wynn and Sarno are also profiled,
although necessarily not to the extent that they are in the books
Running Scared by John L. Smith and Super Casino
by Pete Earley, respectively.
While the authors of these essays do mention some of their subject's
faults, whether they might have a quick temper or a blind spot for certain
business
decisions, the overall profile of many of the subjects of
The Players could fairly be described as glowing. Since
the profiles of the better known personalities, such as Siegal and
Hughes, seems to be fairly balanced, we probably ought to
conclude that the praise lavished on other subjects, such as Jackie Gaughan,
may very well be deserved. Of course, since these pieces were not always
written by the same author, one can't be certain that everything
in this book was written with the same slant, but that these petty
concerns don't detract from the entertainment value of the book.
The essays are well written, well researched, and informative. While
the descriptions of the book's more well-known subjects don't add a
a great deal of information to the repository of collective public
information, the sketches in this book will begin to
give the reader a clear enough picture to be able to understand what
motivates the people they depict. In my opinion, the essays on the
lesser known personalities are the most interesting ones, but any student
of Las Vegas history will almost certainly find them all worth reading.
Capsule:
The Players is a collection of mini-biographies of several
of the people who have most influenced the history of the casino business in
Las Vegas. While several of the book's most famous subjects, Howard
Hughes for example, are chronicled more thoroughly in other books, The
Players
provides an interesting portrait of each of its subjects. While I enjoyed
most the essays on some of the less popularly known characters, such
as Sam Boyd and Kirk Kerkorian, they're all worth reading by anyone who
has an interest in the history of the casino business in Las Vegas.
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