Unreal City: Las Vegas, Black Mesa, and the Fate of the West
Autor Judith Niesen Limba Engleză Hardback – 7 apr 2014
An
epic
struggle
over
land,
water,
and
power
is
erupting
in
the
American
West
and
the
halls
of
Washington,
DC.
It
began
when
a
4,000-square-mile
area
of
Arizona
desert
called
Black
Mesa
was
divided
between
the
Hopi
and
Navajo
tribes.
To
the
outside
world,
it
was
a
land
struggle
between
two
fractious
Indian
tribes;
to
political
insiders
and
energy
corporations,
it
was
a
divide-and-conquer
play
for
the
21
billion
tons
of
coal
beneath
Black
Mesa.
Today,
that
coal
powers
cheap
electricity
for
Los
Angeles,
a
new
water
aqueduct
into
Phoenix,
and
the
neon
dazzle
of
Las
Vegas.
Journalist and historian Judith Nies has been tracking this story for nearly four decades. She follows the money and tells us the true story of wealth and water, mendacity, and corruption at the highest levels of business and government. Amid the backdrop of the breathtaking desert landscape,Unreal Cityshows five cultures colliding—Hopi, Navajo, global energy corporations, Mormons, and US government agencies—resulting in a battle over resources and the future of the West.
Las Vegas may attract 39 million visitors a year, but the tourists mesmerized by the dancing water fountains at the Bellagio don't ask where the water comes from. They don't see a city with the nation's highest rates of foreclosure, unemployment, and suicide. They don't see the astonishing drop in the water level of Lake Mead—where Sin City gets 90 percent of its water supply.
Nies shows how the struggle over Black Mesa lands is an example of a global phenomenon in which giant transnational corporations have the power to separate indigenous people from their energy-rich lands with the help of host governments.Unreal Cityexplores how and why resources have been taken from native lands, what it means in an era of climate change, and why, in this city divorced from nature, the only thing more powerful than money is water.
Journalist and historian Judith Nies has been tracking this story for nearly four decades. She follows the money and tells us the true story of wealth and water, mendacity, and corruption at the highest levels of business and government. Amid the backdrop of the breathtaking desert landscape,Unreal Cityshows five cultures colliding—Hopi, Navajo, global energy corporations, Mormons, and US government agencies—resulting in a battle over resources and the future of the West.
Las Vegas may attract 39 million visitors a year, but the tourists mesmerized by the dancing water fountains at the Bellagio don't ask where the water comes from. They don't see a city with the nation's highest rates of foreclosure, unemployment, and suicide. They don't see the astonishing drop in the water level of Lake Mead—where Sin City gets 90 percent of its water supply.
Nies shows how the struggle over Black Mesa lands is an example of a global phenomenon in which giant transnational corporations have the power to separate indigenous people from their energy-rich lands with the help of host governments.Unreal Cityexplores how and why resources have been taken from native lands, what it means in an era of climate change, and why, in this city divorced from nature, the only thing more powerful than money is water.
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9781568587486
ISBN-10: 1568587481
Pagini: 320
Dimensiuni: 165 x 241 x 32 mm
Greutate: 0.54 kg
Editura: PublicAffairs
Colecția Bold Type Books
ISBN-10: 1568587481
Pagini: 320
Dimensiuni: 165 x 241 x 32 mm
Greutate: 0.54 kg
Editura: PublicAffairs
Colecția Bold Type Books
Notă biografică
Judith
Nies
is
the
award-winning
author
of
three
nonfiction
books-The
Girl
I
Left
Behind:
A
Personal
History
of
the
1960s,
Nine
Women:
Portraits
from
the
American
Radical
Tradition,
andNative
American
History:
A
Chronology,
which
won
the
Phi
Alpha
Theta
prize
in
international
history.
Nies's
journalism,
book
reviews,
and
essays
have
appeared
in
theNew
York
Times,
The
Boston
Globe,
Orion,
Harvard
Review,
Women's
Review
of
Books,
andAmerican
Voice.
She
lives
in
Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
Recenzii
“In
this
cautionary
tale
of
money
and
power,
Judith
Nies
has
created
a
heart-wrenching
account
of
the
exploited
American
West—its
resources
and
its
people.Unreal
Cityexposes
the
strange
bedfellows
and
revolving
doors
that
fuel
crony
capitalism.
At
the
heart
of
it
all
is
the
public-private
plunder
that
has
sadly
become
the
nation's
new
normal,
and
the
tragic
toll
it
takes
on
everything
in
its
path.
Unsettlingly
reminiscent
of
Polanski's
Chinatown,
it
is
a
brave
undertaking.”—Sally
Denton,
investigative
reporter,
historian,
and
author
ofThe
Money
and
the
Power:
The
Making
of
Las
Vegas
and
Its
Hold
on
America
“This book is blood-boilingly splendid. Meticulously reported and shocking in detail, Unreal City brilliantly dissolves the fraudulently spun myths of the American West to reveal a grim, heartbreaking progression of despoliation, waste, corruption, and betrayal of native peoples. This is the reality behind the insatiable Western Sunbelt and that desert chimera, Las Vegas. Throughout, Judith Nies brings scorching, revelatory light to the biggest undertold issue in America, the destruction of the West by unchained greed.”—Katherine A. Powers, recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing
“This book is blood-boilingly splendid. Meticulously reported and shocking in detail, Unreal City brilliantly dissolves the fraudulently spun myths of the American West to reveal a grim, heartbreaking progression of despoliation, waste, corruption, and betrayal of native peoples. This is the reality behind the insatiable Western Sunbelt and that desert chimera, Las Vegas. Throughout, Judith Nies brings scorching, revelatory light to the biggest undertold issue in America, the destruction of the West by unchained greed.”—Katherine A. Powers, recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing
An
Amazon.com
Best
Book
of
the
Year
"Nies' great triumph is to emphatically bring the 'bloody nuisance' of the story behind the growth of the West to the public eye. Her book is essential reading for those seeking to understand the largely hidden history and the forgotten deals and injustices that keep Las Vegas and Los Angeles glimmering." —Hector Tobar,Los Angeles Times
"Judith Nies' history of the region and brutal political maneuvering that helped facilitate the rise of Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles is thoroughly engaging and at times heartbreaking… this is the real American hustle.”—Las Vegas Review-Journals
“A hard-hitting chronicle of the hidden history behind the creation of Las Vegas… An important, multifaceted page-turner.” —Kirkus Reviews
"If you're headed to Las Vegas for vacation, pack this book along. In between visits to the giant pyramids and faux Manhattans, read it to get a real understanding of exactly how fragile this mirage is." —Bill McKibben, authorWandering Home: A Long Walk Across America's Most Hopeful Landscape
"Nies' great triumph is to emphatically bring the 'bloody nuisance' of the story behind the growth of the West to the public eye. Her book is essential reading for those seeking to understand the largely hidden history and the forgotten deals and injustices that keep Las Vegas and Los Angeles glimmering." —Hector Tobar,Los Angeles Times
"Judith Nies' history of the region and brutal political maneuvering that helped facilitate the rise of Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles is thoroughly engaging and at times heartbreaking… this is the real American hustle.”—Las Vegas Review-Journals
“A hard-hitting chronicle of the hidden history behind the creation of Las Vegas… An important, multifaceted page-turner.” —Kirkus Reviews
"If you're headed to Las Vegas for vacation, pack this book along. In between visits to the giant pyramids and faux Manhattans, read it to get a real understanding of exactly how fragile this mirage is." —Bill McKibben, authorWandering Home: A Long Walk Across America's Most Hopeful Landscape