Las Vegas’ Scammers, Schemers, and Dreamers


Book Description

Las Vegas Scammers, Schemers and Dreamers is a behind the scenes, inside look at life in another world: The Casino. What goes on in this world within a world? How do people really act? What does it take to get escorted out and told not to come back? What does it take to have the police or the Gaming Commission called? My very first call from Surveillance came on my second day on the job. I was informed that a customer (for lack of a printable word) pulled out hair from his arm and put it on his eggs. After I was convinced this was not a joke, I became shocked, angry, and curious all at the same time. I couldnt believe someone would do this to get out of paying for their $1.99 Steak & Eggs special. My normal thinking for the past twenty years had been I wonder if well have any problems today. A very short time later, it changed to I wonder how many well have today. The stories youre about to read couldnt possibly be made up. They were written with a sarcastic and humorous tone. Because if I took them to heart, you would be visiting me at the home. Youll also read stories about gambling problems, including my own, which are not so funny. Thats the reason I need you to buy this book. I just might be able to break even. I can almost guarantee that you too are going to be shocked and amazed at human behavior in a casino. I can also almost guarantee that if you have even the slightest sense of humor, youll be laughing and enjoying this book. Frank Garibaldi




Dreamers and Schemers


Book Description

In this compelling and comprehensive work, renowned historian Frank Bongiorno presents a social and cultural history of Australia's political life, from pre-settlement Indigenous systems to the present day. Depicting a wonderful parade of dreamers and schemers, Bongiorno surveys moments of political renewal and sheds fresh light on our democratic life. From local pubs and meeting halls to the parliament and cabinet; from pamphleteers and stump orators to party agents and operatives - this enthralling account looks at the political insiders in the halls of power, as well as the agitators and outsiders who sought to shape the nation from the margins. A work of political history like no other, Dreamers and Schemers will transform the way you look at Australian politics.




Dreamers and Schemers


Book Description

How one man brought the Olympics to Los Angeles, fueling the city's urban transformation. Dreamers and Schemers chronicles how Los Angeles’s pursuit and staging of the 1932 Olympic Games during the depths of the Great Depression helped fuel the city’s transformation from a seedy frontier village to a world-famous metropolis. Leading that pursuit was the “Prince of Realtors,” William May (Billy) Garland, a prominent figure in early Los Angeles. In important respects, the story of Billy Garland is the story of Los Angeles. After arriving in Southern California in 1890, he and his allies drove much of the city’s historic expansion in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Then, from 1920 to 1932, he directed the city’s bid for the 1932 Olympic Games. Garland’s quest to host the Olympics provides an unusually revealing window onto a particular time, place, and way of life. Reconstructing the narrative from Garland’s visionary notion to its consequential aftermath, Barry Siegel shows how one man’s grit and imagination made California history.




Dreamers, Schemers and Scalawags


Book Description

Florida has been the home of many unusual characters throughout the years. Meet Ned Buntline, Laura Riding, Wilson Mizner, Sam Jones, and many others. Storytellers, lawbreakers, movers and shakers, sportsmen, moviemakers, visionaries, and mobsters all left their mark on Florida. Next in series > > See all of the books in this series




The Making of an Icon: The Dreamers, the Schemers, and the Hard Hats Who Built the Gateway Arch, Second Edition


Book Description

With his fourth book from Reedy Press, The Making of an Icon, Jim Merkel captured the spirit behind the conception and construction of one of America’s most distinctive and beloved national monuments. More than two million visitors stand in awe at the Gateway Arch each year, and the stories behind it were unearthed in breathless detail in the first edition. Back with even more lore and the addition of beautiful color images, Merkel brings new information on the Arch grounds and museum to this updated and revised second edition. Now expanded, his book includes more stories compiled from interviews with the visionaries, finaglers, protesters, and intrepid workers who built the arch while one misstep away from a fatal fall. Merkel’s book will help us appreciate the relentless pursuit, innovation, and toil that raised the Arch to the sky.




True Stories of Riverside and the Inland Empire


Book Description

The scattered desert and mountain communities of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties grew exponentially through late twentieth-century urban flight. The "Inland Empire" became home to four million people. Their forebears' remarkable stories of survival, heroism and everyday charm and waywardness are captured here by historian Hal Durian. Unique episodes in the lives of Riverside founder John North, citrus pioneer Eliza Tibbets, hotelier Frank Miller, historian Mrs. Janet Gould and army general "Hap" Arnold are recounted, along with prison escapes, "desert rats," murder trials and church and military base lore. The famous Mission Inn's legacy is here, along with journeys to Rialto, Colton, Blythe, Twentynine Palms and other unique Inland Empire locales.




Let Me Tell You Some Stories


Book Description

"Let Me Tell You Some Stories (In Rhythm & Rhyme)". Poetry & Prose About Lovely Ladies, Mothers, Wives, Sisters, Lovers & Other Things In Life (ponies, puppies, and cowboys). Original poems & stories written by Bruce Reese, Dallas, Texas A Master Story Teller and Wordsmith, writing in a unique style about a host of subjects and experiences. A real cowboy with roots in the Southwest, but exposed to a broad cross-section of society, and current technology. His book has tributes to the ladies, reflections, humor, real stories. Those who have read it love it!




1,000 Books to Read Before You Die


Book Description

“The ultimate literary bucket list.” —THE WASHINGTON POST Celebrate the pleasure of reading and the thrill of discovering new titles in an extraordinary book that’s as compulsively readable, entertaining, surprising, and enlightening as the 1,000-plus titles it recommends. Covering fiction, poetry, science and science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children’s books, history, and more, 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die ranges across cultures and through time to offer an eclectic collection of works that each deserve to come with the recommendation, You have to read this. But it’s not a proscriptive list of the “great works”—rather, it’s a celebration of the glorious mosaic that is our literary heritage. Flip it open to any page and be transfixed by a fresh take on a very favorite book. Or come across a title you always meant to read and never got around to. Or, like browsing in the best kind of bookshop, stumble on a completely unknown author and work, and feel that tingle of discovery. There are classics, of course, and unexpected treasures, too. Lists to help pick and choose, like Offbeat Escapes, or A Long Climb, but What a View. And its alphabetical arrangement by author assures that surprises await on almost every turn of the page, with Cormac McCarthy and The Road next to Robert McCloskey and Make Way for Ducklings, Alice Walker next to Izaac Walton. There are nuts and bolts, too—best editions to read, other books by the author, “if you like this, you’ll like that” recommendations , and an interesting endnote of adaptations where appropriate. Add it all up, and in fact there are more than six thousand titles by nearly four thousand authors mentioned—a life-changing list for a lifetime of reading. “948 pages later, you still want more!” —THE WASHINGTON POST




Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies


Book Description

"Bob Whiting came to the city as a stranger in a strange land in 1962 and stayed for five decades—he knows the dark alleys, the good whisky bars, the crooked politicians and the crooks, the baseball players, the bookies…better than anyone alive." —Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice Critically acclaimed author and longtime Japan resident Robert Whiting turns his attention to the fascinating stories of foreigners who made waves and achieved notoriety in post-World War II Japan. In this rare insider's look at Japan through the eyes of foreigners, this book covers a fascinating swathe of Japanese history, from the immediate postwar period up to the 2022 assassination of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The fascinating stories of the gamblers, dreamers, and other chancers who made their mark in modern Japan include US servicemen running Vegas-style gambling dens; baseball managers Like Bobby Valentine; hostesses, bar managers and wannabe yakuza gangsters; religious fanatics such as Members of the Moonies, and businessmen like disgraced Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn. This fascinating book provides an unvarnished look at the post-war history of Japan and offers cautionary tales about how welcoming Japan really is towards outsiders. It is based on original research and reporting by the author, a 60-year resident of Tokyo.




The King of Confidence


Book Description

The "unputdownable" (Dave Eggers, National Book award finalist) story of the most infamous American con man you've never heard of: James Strang, self-proclaimed divine king of earth, heaven, and an island in Lake Michigan, "perfect for fans of The Devil in the White City" (Kirkus) A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist for the Midland Authors Annual Literary Award A Michigan Notable Book A CrimeReads Best True Crime Book of the Year "A masterpiece." —Nathaniel Philbrick In the summer of 1843, James Strang, a charismatic young lawyer and avowed atheist, vanished from a rural town in New York. Months later he reappeared on the Midwestern frontier and converted to a burgeoning religious movement known as Mormonism. In the wake of the murder of the sect's leader, Joseph Smith, Strang unveiled a letter purportedly from the prophet naming him successor, and persuaded hundreds of fellow converts to follow him to an island in Lake Michigan, where he declared himself a divine king. From this stronghold he controlled a fourth of the state of Michigan, establishing a pirate colony where he practiced plural marriage and perpetrated thefts, corruption, and frauds of all kinds. Eventually, having run afoul of powerful enemies, including the American president, Strang was assassinated, an event that was frontpage news across the country. The King of Confidence tells this fascinating but largely forgotten story. Centering his narrative on this charlatan's turbulent twelve years in power, Miles Harvey gets to the root of a timeless American original: the Confidence Man. Full of adventure, bad behavior, and insight into a crucial period of antebellum history, The King of Confidence brings us a compulsively readable account of one of the country's boldest con men and the boisterous era that allowed him to thrive.