Shepperson Series in Nevada History – serie

When ""Beyond the Mafia"" first appeared in 1996, it was hailed as a significant contribution to the history of Las Vegas and of ethnic minorities in America. Author, Alan Balboni traces the history of Italians in Las Vegas from the founding of the city in 1905, recording their activities in the fledgling settlement. As Las Vegas grew, Italian Americans participated in every aspect of the city's society and economy, including construction, retail establishments, hotels, and - after the statewide legalization of gambling in 1931 - the casino industry. Basing his research on well over a hundred interviews, as well as the records of Italian American organizations, public agencies, and other sources, Balboni has produced a sparkling, farsighted, and thoroughly documented account of the history of one of Las Vegas' most progressive and productive ethnic minorities. This new paperback edition includes an afterword by the author that brings the story of Las Vegas' ""Italian Americans"" up to the present.

Boomtown Saloons was heralded upon its publication as a groundbreaking book on the historical archaeology of the Old West. Its account of the excavation and analysis of four nineteenth-century Virginia City, Nevada, saloon sites offers a provocative new interpretation of the role of saloons in a mining boomtown. Dixon, who participated in the excavation projects, discusses the meticulous work of the modern archaeologist and the technologies involved in analyzing evidence, and what these discoveries tell us about Virginia City's people and their social habits. Contrary to the image, perpetuated by films and legend, of Old West saloons as sites of violence and raucous entertainment, these establishments, including one owned by an African American businessman that offered some of the finest meals in the city, provided patrons a place to relax and dine with friends, participate in gambling and other amusements, and find a refuge from the anonymity and isolation that often afflicts a transient population. Available now in paperback, ""Boomtown Saloons's"" sparkling text and thoughtful interpretation of both physical and documentary evidence reveal an unknown aspect of the life and culture of one of the Old West's most storied cities. Dixon persuasively demonstrates that the traditional western saloon had a far more socially and ethnically diverse clientele than previously believed, and that it served a vital, complex social and economic role in its community.

Nevada has always been different from other states. Almost from its beginning, Nevada sanctioned behaviors considered immoral elsewhere—gambling, prize-fighting, brothels, easy divorce—and embraced a culture of individualism and disdain for the constraints of more conventional society. In The Making of Modern Nevada, author Hal Rothman focuses on the factors that shaped the state’s original maverick, colonial status and those that later allowed it to emerge as the new standard of American consumer- ism and postmodern liberalism. Rothman introduces the masters who sought to own Nevada, from bonanza kings to Mafia mobsters, as well as the politicians, miners, gamblers, civic and civil-rights leaders, union organ- izers, and casino corporate moguls who guided the state into prosperity and national importance. He also analyzes the role of mob and labor union money in the development of Las Vegas; the Sagebrush Rebellion; the rise of megaresorts and of Las Vegas as a world icon of leisure and pleasure; and the political and social impact of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. The Making of Modern Nevada is essential reading for anyone who wonders how the Silver State got this way, and where it may be going in the twenty-first century.

The Great Depression of the 1930s had a devastating impact on sparsely populated Nevada and its two major industries, mining and agriculture. Luckily, thanks to Nevada’s powerful Senate delegation, Roosevelt’s New Deal funding flowed abundantly into the state. Among the programs thus supported was the Civilian Conservation Corps, a federal program intended to provide jobs for unemployed young men and a pool of labor for essential public lands rehabilitation projects. In all, nearly thirty-one thousand men were employed in fifty-nine ccc camps across Nevada, most of them from outside the state. These “boys,” as they were called, went to work improving the state’s forests, parks, wildlife habitats, roads, fences, irrigation systems, flood-control systems, and rangelands, while learning valuable skills on the job. Rural communities near ccc camps reaped additional benefits when local men were hired as foremen and when the camps purchased supplies from local merchants.The Civilian Conservation Corps in Nevada is the first comprehensive history of the Nevada ccc, a program designed to help the nation get back on its feet, and of the “boys” who did so much to restore Nevada’s lands and resources. The book is based on extensive research in private manuscript collections, unpublished memoirs, ccc inspectors’ reports, and other records. The book also includes period photographs depicting the Nevada ccc and its activities.

Nevada's politics are in large measure the result of its turbulent history and harsh environment. Michael W. Bowers's concise volume explains the dynamics of the political formation process, which is strikingly unique among the fifty states. Even today, Nevada is unlike the other states in its politics and culture: economically right, yet libertarian and home to widespread gaming and a 24/7 lifestyle. It has a high percentage of federally owned lands and one of the highest rates of urbanism in the United States, yet is often dominated by rural legislators. The sixth edition is updated through 2020 and includes the full text of the state constitution with extensive annotations of all amendments to the original 1864 document.

Monumental Lies: Early Nevada Folklore of the Wild West opens the door to understanding how legends and traditions emerged during the first decades following the "Rush to Washoe," which transformed the region beginning in 1859. During this Wild West period, there was widespread celebration of deceit, manifesting in tall tales, burlesque lies, practical jokes, and journalistic hoaxes. Humor was central to these endeavors and practitioners easily found themselves scorned if they failed to be adequately funny. This ethos became central to the way folklore emerged during the formative years of the Nevada territory and state.The tens of thousands of people who came to the West, attracted by gold and silver mining, brought distinct cultural legacies. The interaction of diverse perspectives, even while new stories and traditions coalesced or simply appeared, was a complex process. Author Ronald M. James addresses how the fluidity of the region affected new expressions of folklore as they took root.Mark Twain, often a go-to source for collections of early tall tales of this region, cannot be overlooked, but his interaction with local traditions was specific and narrow. More importantly, William Wright—publishing as Dan De Quille—arose as a key collector of legends, a counterpart of early European folklorists. With a bedrock understanding of what unfolded in the nineteenth century, it is possible to consider.

A dynamic study of Nevada’s government and politics from the state’s inception to the present day.Starting with Michael W. Bowers’s first edition published in 1996, this concise volume explains the unique dynamics of Nevada’s formation and its political and economic development. David F. Damore continues this legacy in the book’s seventh edition by describing how even today, Nevada is unlike the other states in its politics and culture: economically conservative and averse to strong state government, yet socially libertarian and home to widespread gaming anchored by a 24/7 industry. Nevada has the highest percentage of federally owned lands and one of the highest rates of urbanization in the United States, yet it has often been dominated by rural legislators.This comprehensive and insightful volume examines how Nevada’s history and founding have shaped its political culture and how its government operates today. The Sagebrush State serves as a highly readable and accessible text for the study of Nevada’s political history and constitution. The seventh edition is updated through 2023 and includes the results of the 2022 elections, policies advanced during the 2023 legislative session, and Nevada’s continuing recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 recession. The full text of the state constitution with extensive annotations of all amendments to the original 1864 document is provided as an appendix.

Eugene P. Moehring analyzes the development of Reno and Las Vegas since 1945 with special emphasis on the years after 1970. Major factors that shaped the development of both cities were the growth of corporate gaming and megaresorts and increased personal leisure and affluence. Moehring provides an engaging, informative, and readable history of the divergent paths that Reno and Las Vegas took over the past forty years. Reno, the nation's gambling mecca in the 1950s, led the way, developing the successful tourist economy that Las Vegas later embraced. Through the 1970s the two cities resembled each other greatly, but Las Vegas grew to achieve global significance, while Reno slowly declined, searching for new industries to power its future. Moehring shows that the development of the Las Vegas Strip was crucial to southern Nevada's success. The casinos, hotels, and entertainments of the Strip, and the workers they supported, formed a new urban center ringed by offices, residences, shopping, and a major university. In effect, it became a third metropolis, governed by county commissioners, larger than Reno and Las Vegas combined.Moehring brings the story of the three cities to the present day, examining lessons learned from the Great Recession and the efforts under way in all three metropolises to diversify their economies. Moehring makes an important contribution with the only current study of Nevada's cities, focusing on urban development issues rather than social history or the gaming industry. As the service economy continues to grow, not only in Nevada but throughout the United States, Moehring's work has many implications for urban studies and particularly the study of urban development in other metropolitan areas.

The Nevada judiciary began with territorial judges appointed by President Abraham Lincoln and transitioned to elected judges after statehood in 1864. The courts officiated by these judges have influenced the evolution of Nevada from a territory created in the chaos of mining litigation; through the expansion of divorce, gaming, and tourism jurisprudence; to what is now a vibrant venue for commercial development and corporate law. Along the way, the state’s judges weighed in on issues of civil liberties, water rights, personal injury, and a variety of other legal subjects affecting all Nevada citizens. The collective work of these courts has solidified the rule of law and allowed Nevadans to live peacefully.Until the publication of Judge David A. Hardy’s Profiles in Judicial Excellence: Territorial and Supreme Court Justices of Nevada, there has been no single source containing biographies of these influential figures from the state’s history from 1861 to 1997. Hardy curates various sources and presents profiles of these judges in sequential order of their service. He also examines the influence of territorial judges in the 1864 vote for statehood. The Nevada judiciary has played an integral, but often unrecognized, role in shaping the unique character of the Silver State.

The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934 has been generally acknowledged as the most important statute affecting Native Americans after the General Allotment Act of 1887, and it is probably the most important single statute affecting Native Americans during the two-thirds of a century since its passage. Over half the Native governments in the contemporary U.S. are organized under its provisions or under separate statutes that parallel the IRA in major ways. Although the impact of the IRA has been widely studied and debated, no scholar until now has looked closely at the forces that shaped its creation and passage. Author Elmer Rusco spent over a decade of research in national and regional archives and other repositories to examine the legislative intent of the IRA, including the role of issues like the nature and significance of judge-made Indian law; the allotment policy and its relation to Indian self-government; the nature of Native American governments before the IRA; the views and actions of John Collier, commissioner of Indian Affairs and leader in the campaign to reform the nation's Indian policy; and the influence of relations between the president and Congress during the second year of the New Deal. Rusco also discusses the role of conflicting ideologies and interests in this effort to expand the rights of Native Americans; the general ignorance of Native American concerns and policy on the part of legislators engaged in the writing and passage of the law; and the limited but crucial impact of Indian involvement in the struggle over the IRA.

Few estates born from the discovery of the Comstock Lode still survive. Among the grandest, Bowers Mansion, dates to the height of the Civil War. The property has a tragic history shrouded in legend, laid bare within these pages: from the mansion's construction; to Eilley Bowers's fight to maintain the property after her husband's death, running it as a resort and telling fortunes; to the mansion's restoration in the sixties with aid of a handful of determined women. Bowers Mansion: The Legacy of a Comstock Family is a tale of wealth and poverty, of decay and revival, offering up a powerful story from Nevada's history for readers of all kinds to enjoy.

Charcoal and Blood is a detailed account of a heinous crime perpetrated on Italian immigrants engaged in the production of charcoal on Nevada’s mining frontier at the close of the nineteenth century. On August 18, 1879, in a canyon near Fish Creek, outside Eureka, Nevada, five Italian charcoal burners were slain and six more were wounded, while fourteen were taken prisoner by a sheriff’s posse. Through meticulous research on the event, relying on such primary sources as newspaper articles, author Silvio Manno provides the only comprehensive account of Eureka’s charcoal crisis and what came to be known as the Fish Creek Massa-cre. This is a well-documented narrative history of an important instance of class and ethnic conflict in the West. Readers interested in Nevada history, Italian American history, frontier trade unionism, and mining in the West will find this book a unique examination of an incident that occurred almost a century and a half ago and that has, until now, been largely over-looked.

Nevada’s politics are in large measure the result of its turbulent history and harsh environment. Michael W. Bowers’s concise volume explains the dynamics of the political formation process, which is strikingly unique among the fifty states. Even today, Nevada is unlike the other states in its politics and culture: economically right, yet libertarian and home to widespread gaming and a 24/7 lifestyle. It has a high percentage of federally owned lands and one of the highest rates of urbanism in the United States, yet is often dominated by rural legislators.This comprehensive and insightful explanation discusses how Nevada’s history has shaped its political culture, and how its government operates today. The Sagebrush State serves as a highly readable and accessible text for the study of Nevada’s political history and constitution, which is a graduation requirement at the state’s colleges and universities. The fifth edition is updated through 2017 and includes the full text of the state constitution with extensive annotations of all amendments to the original 1864 document.

The Westside Slugger is the powerful story of civil rights in Las Vegas and Nevada through the eyes and experience of Joe Neal, a history-making state lawmaker in Nevada. Neal rose from humble beginnings in Mound, Louisiana, during the Great Depression to become the first African American to serve in the Nevada State Senate.Filled with an intense desire for education, he joined the United States Air Force and later graduated from Southern University-studying political science and the law at a time of great upheaval in the racial status quo. As part of a group of courageous men, Neal joined a Department of Justice effort to register the first black voters in Madison Parish.When Neal moved to southern Nevada in 1963 he found the Silver State to be every bit as discriminatory as his former Louisiana home. As Neal climbed through the political ranks, he used his position in the state senate to speak on behalf of the powerless for more than thirty years. He took on an array of powerful opponents ranging from the Clark County sheriff to the governor of the state, as well as Nevada's political kingmakers and casino titans. He didn't always succeed-he lost two runs for governor-but he never stopped fighting. His successes included improved rights for convicted felons and greater services for public education, mental health, and the state's libraries. He also played an integral role in improving hotel fire safety in the wake of the deadly MGM Grand fire and preserving the pristine waters of Lake Tahoe, which brought him national attention.Neal lived a life that personified what is right, just, and fair. Pushing through racial and civil rights hurdles and becoming a lifelong advocate for social justice, his dedication and determination are powerful reminders to always fight the good fight and never stop swinging.