Unreal City: Las Vegas, Black Mesa, and the Fate of the West

In this well-researched book, Nies (The Girl I Left Behind: A Narrative History of the Sixties) presents a history of the social, political, and cultural conflicts over land, water, and energy that enabled the "Sunbelt Boom" and made the West what it is%E2%80%94a region dependent on coal and disappearing water sources , unwilling to discuss conservation "because it discourage[s] growth." Nies centers her book on the creation of Las Vegas and presents an expansive history of the area, from indigenous Navajo and Hopi tribes to Mormon settlement and 20th century corporate dealings and federal interventions. The story that appears is one of "legal theft" of land and rights from the indigenous populations of Black Mesa in northern Arizona to supply power to Las Vegas and other desert cities. The book addresses all the major players and stakeholders, showing how the history and present state of the West are inextricable from Wall Street and Washington. This portrayal contrasts sharply with the popular and politicized vision of the West as individualistic and self-reliant. The presentation is dense and at times difficult to untangle. But in this regard, the reading experience very much reflects the muddled history and complex reality of the current resource struggles in the American West. Agent: Don Fehr, Trident Media Group. (Apr.)