All In : The Spread of Gambling in Twentieth-Century United States.

ISBN:

9781943859610

Title:

Author:

Cohen, Jonathan D.

Personal Author:

Cohen, Jonathan D.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (196 pages)

Series:

Gambling Studies Series ; v.1

Gambling Studies Series

Contents:

Cover Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Part One â–ª Policing -- 1. â€œThe News from Brooklyn Is Disturbingâ€â€”Corruption, Big-City Police, and the Dilemma of Gambling -- 2. â€œThe Ever Watchful Eye of the Magnateâ€â€”Policing and Ballpark Gambling in the Twentieth Century -- Part Two â–ª Promoting -- 3. â€œAvoid Advertising the Obviousâ€â€”Gambling and the Chamber of Commerce Promotion of Las Vegas in the 1950s -- 4. The Business of Gamblingâ€”How Press Releases Helped Legitimize the Gaming Industry in Las Vegas -- Part Three â–ª Proliferating -- 5. Something for Nothingâ€”The Fiscal Alchemy of Lottery Legalization -- 6. No End in Sightâ€”How the United States Became a Gambling Nation, 1950â€“2000 -- Part Four â–ª Praying -- 7. In the Lionâ€™s Denâ€”Evangelicals on the Las Vegas Strip and the Meaning of Billy Grahamâ€™s 1978 Crusade -- 8. Sanctity, Pragmatism, and Paying the Billsâ€”The Controversial Use of Bingo in Synagogues -- Part Five â–ª Playing -- 9. Rolling the Diceâ€”The Rise of the Reservation Casino and the Native American Fight for Cultural Survival -- 10. The Neoliberal Lotteryâ€”Elliot Rodger and the Affective Economy of Masculinity -- Contributors -- About the Editors -- Index.

Local Note:

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.

Subject Term:

Gambling industry-United States-History-20th century.

Gambling-United States-History-20th century.

Added Author:

Schwartz, David G.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view book

Publication Date:

2018

Publication Information:

Chicago :

University of Nevada Press,

2018.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
338.4779509730904	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ON-DEMAND	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Gambling, the risky enterprise of chance, is one of America's favorite pastimes. Office March Madness brackets, a day at the race track, a friendly wager, the random ridiculous Super Bowl prop bet, bingo night, or the latest media frenzy over the Powerball jackpot--all emphasize the ubiquity of this major economic force and cultural phenomenon. Approximately 70 percent of Americans regularly engage in some form of betting, amounting to over $140 billion in combined casino and lottery revenue every year. A hundred years ago, however, legal gambling was a rarity in the United States.

A fresh take on the history of modern American gambling, All In provides a closer look at the shifting economic, cultural, religious, and political conditions that facilitated gambling's expansion and prominence in American consumerism and popular culture. In its pages, a diverse range of essays covering commercial and Native American casinos, sports betting, lotteries, bingo, and more piece together a picture of how gambling became so widespread over the course of the twentieth century.

Drawing from a range of academic disciplines, this collection explores five aspects of American gambling history: crime, advertising, politics, religion, and identity.

In doing so, All In illuminates the on-the-ground debates over gambling's expansion, the failed attempts to thwart legalized betting, and the consequences of its present ubiquity in the United States.

Author Notes

Jonathan D. Cohen is a PhD Candidate at the Corcoran Department of the History at the University of Virginia.

David G. Schwartz is the director of the Center for Gaming Research and an instructor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has written several books on gambling, and is also editor of the University of Nevada Press's Gambling Series.

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

The essays in this book contextualize the historical, economic, social, and political aspects of American public gambling during the 20th century. Cohen (Univ. of Virginia) and Schwartz (Center for Gaming Research, Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas) have organized their book in five major critical sections and are joined by eight contributors to focus on topics of policing and corruption, promotion, proliferation, opposition, and gambling's cultural and socioeconomic effects. This scholarly collection challenges the usual focus on the public gambling process and cultural experience in the contemporary US. The editors provide a strong introduction to the scholarly purpose of the collection and an in-depth review of the published work on this subject. Each contributor's academic findings are based on historical archival and primary materials, lending the work an original, organic sensibility. This is the first book that collects various scholarship on the cultural and political facets of American gambling in one place; as such, it represents a major contribution for future scholarship on this critical subject matter. All libraries should obtain a copy for their American Studies and history collections. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.--Jose Gomez Moreno, Northern Arizona University