Top 10 Quotes by Hal Rothman

The reinvention of American culture as purely the self catapulted Las Vegas to prominence. The city took sin and made it choice -- a sometimes ambiguous choice, but choice nonetheless. Combined with a visionary approach

The reinvention of American culture as purely the self catapulted Las Vegas to prominence. The city took sin and made it choice -- a sometimes ambiguous choice, but choice nonetheless. Combined with a visionary approach to experience that melded Hollywood and Americans' taste for comfort and self-deception, Las Vegas grew into the last American frontier city, as foreign at times as Prague but as quintessential as Peoria. In Las Vegas, you can choose your fantasy; in the rest of America, you don't always get to pick.

Hal Rothman

Las Vegas, Self, Cities

Las Vegas is still socially sanctioned deviance. Its brand is just more comfortable to more Americans than it used to be.

Hal Rothman

Las Vegas, Deviance, Used

Hal Rothman (2015). “Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the Twenty-First Century”, p.20, Routledge

From its founding, [Nevada] has always struggled to belong. It has had a series of masters--the mining industry, the railroads, the federal government, and now gaming and tourism--that have driven the state's economy and compelled its direction.

Hal Rothman

Government, Railroads, Tourism

Hal Rothman (2010). “The Making of Modern Nevada”, p.1, University of Nevada Press

Las Vegas was and is a hard town that will make you pay for your inability to restrain your desires.... If you have a weakness, Las Vegas will punish you.

Hal Rothman

Las Vegas, Desire, Inability

Hal Rothman (2015). “Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the Twenty-First Century”, p.25, Routledge

No one thinks Las Vegas is real; it is illusion, but visitors willingly suspend disbelief and pretend.

Hal Rothman

Real, Thinking, Vegas

Hal Rothman (2015). “Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the Twenty-First Century”, p.12, Routledge

In a city of illusion, where change is what the city does, it's no wonder Las Vegas is the court of last resort, the last place to start over, to reinvent yourself in the same way that the city does, time after time. For some it works; for some it doesn't, but they keep coming and trying.

Hal Rothman

Las Vegas, Cities, Starting Over

Hal Rothman (2015). “Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the Twenty-First Century”, p.142, Routledge

In Las Vegas, people seem to believe, the prosperity spawned by tourism and gaming can make them whole, financially and spiritually. Las Vegas now melds fun, work, and wealth, showing a path toward the brightest vistas of the post-industrial world. It is the first city of the twenty-first century.

Hal Rothman

Fun, Believe, Vegas

Hal Rothman, Mike Davis (2002). “The Grit Beneath the Glitter: Tales from the Real Las Vegas”, p.9, Univ of California Press

Las Vegas is the therapeutic ethos of our time run amok, our socio-psychological promise to ourselves to be eternally young writ large on the landscape of aging self-indulgence.

Hal Rothman

Running, Self, Ethos

Hal Rothman (2015). “Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the Twenty-First Century”, p.12, Routledge

The outsiders have become kings and queens of the castle. It is a whole lot easier to sit outside the tent and throw firecrackers inside; it is much, much harder to sit inside the tent and govern not only your enemies, but your close friends as well.

Hal Rothman

Queens, Kings, Enemy

Hal Rothman (2007). “Playing the Odds: Las Vegas and the Modern West”, p.135, UNM Press