Claudia C. Collins is an Associate Professor at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. She worked as an award-winning television journalist in New York and Las Vegas and is presently doing research in the area of health and aging, and population studies.
David R. Dickens in Professor of Sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His primary areas of interest are continental social theory and contemporary mass culture.
"Well documented and including numerous maps, charts, and figures, the book examines all aspects of urban development. Librarians should buy this book, it would fit into a public library nicely and is essential for universities." Library Journal
"Urbanists from all fields will benefit from learning about an unusually usual city. In short, Mark Gottdiener, Claudia Collins and David Dickens have boldly gone where no sociologists have gone before and, to use Las Vegas parlance, rolled seven. they have written a fascinating book on a fascinating subject." Michael S. Green, Community College of Southern Nevada
"The greatest virtue of this book is its in-depth look at the evolution of Las Vegas during the last twenty years. There is simply no better set of data about the recent history of the city. Gottdiener, Collins and Dickens excel at tracking politics and its implications, correctly noting the problems of managing not only growth but also social evolution with weak governmental institutions." Hal Rothman, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
"Las Vegas is an intriguing mix of travel guide, political reporting, and urban commentary and thus presents a more topical, nuanced, and balanced profile of America's fastest growing metropolitan region than anything else currently available. The book fits nicely into undergraduates courses in urban sociology, geography, and politics." American Journal of Sociology
..". provides a complex and densely layered snapshot of a place all too often taken at face value." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians