Articles
Book reviews from Desert Companion magazine:
“A State in Full.” A review of Michael Green’s Nevada: A History of the Silver State, June 2015
“Bugsy Siegel Finally Gets a Serious Biography.” A review of Larry Gragg’s Bugsy Siegel: The Gangster, the Flamingo, and the Making of Modern Las Vegas, February 2015
“How Vegas Ate Reno’s Lunch.” A review of Eugene Moehring’s Reno, Las Vegas, and the Strip: A Tale of Three Cities, November 2014
“Bad Ol’ Boy.” A review of Doug Swanson’s Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker, September 2014
“Not So Normal.” A review of Colson Whitehead’s The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky and Death, May 2014
“Founding Father.” A review of David Schwartz’s Grandissimo: The First Emperor of Las Vegas, January 2014
Recent columns for the Ames Tribune:
– “The Great Butter-Margarine Controversy”
– “Find Someone Else to Pick On”
– “Seek Out the Artisans of Iowa”
– “The Anatomy of Culture Shock”
– “The Truth Isn’t Out There, But That’s Not the Point.”
– “Get Your Head in the Cloud.”
– “What Do We Do With the Nuclear Waste?”
– “The More Things Change . . .”
Other recent articles:
– A review of Oksana Marafioti’s American Gypsy: A Memoir.
– “Crime and Punishment,” a review of H. Lee Barnes’ novel Car Tag.
– “Pretty Good Gonzo,” a review of a Hunter Thompson/H.P. Lovecraft mash-up novel.
– “The $40 Gold Tooth,” a review of the memoir of Las Vegas pawn star Rick Harrison.
– “Elvis + Vegas,” long article in Desert Companion, the magazine published by Nevada Public Radio, KNPR 89.5-FM. Article starts on Page 35.
– “Devils and Dust” is my report on a Tea Party rally on March 27, 2010, in Searchlight, Nevada. It was published by the Huffington Post.
– “Mash-up History” is my review of the late Hal Rothman’s final book, The Making of Modern Nevada.
– A complete list of links to my weekly Las Vegas Review-Journal column is here.
– I have posted many articles and book reviews I’ve written at Scribd.com. Go to the site and search my name and they should come up.