The Last Honest Place in America

Marc Cooper
January 2004     ISBN: 1560256648

The author's journey began in October 2001 with the dynamiting of the Desert Inn, the moment when old Vegas "cool" died and the new corporate model claimed definitive victory. He increasingly spent longer and more frequent stretches of time in Vegas, moving from the glitzy Strip to the frayed downtown, indulging in his lifelong love of blackjack, hanging out with Mormons, mobsters, MBAs, born-again virgins, strippers, lap-dance union organizers, gambling addicts, priests and Vegas's colorful and controversial mayor.

"Hold on tight. Marc Cooper takes us on a reeling, raucous and ultimately revealing ride straight though Las Vegas and deep into the heart of modern American culture."
--Arianna Huffington, author of Pigs at the Trough

"Bright lights, big bucks--Marc Cooper's riveting deconstruction of Las Vegas is nearly as addictive as the real thing."
--Peter Biskind, author of Down and Dirty Pictures and Raging Bulls, Easy Riders

"Marc Cooper's colorful examination of Las Vegas, the city he deems the Last Honest Place in America, is the perfect summer read--flashy fun. Mr. Cooper is smart and funny, a winning combination in a writer; he also has a keen eye for telltale details and a gift for big-picture analysis, a great one-two punch for a journalist. In chapters such as 'The Naked and the Red' and 'What would Jesus Bet,' Mr. Cooper piles on the insights and observations to construct a hilarious and sobering portrait of America's capital of under-the-neon-stars excess and broken-dreams reality. This book is full of read-aloud passages--asked about a new type of video-poker machines, a woman explains with perfect Vegasized logic, 'You lose quicker, but it's more fun.' Reading it is cheaper than going to Vegas for the weekend and almost as much fun. Almost."
--Dallas Morning News

Marc Cooper has covered politics and culture from across the US and around the world for the last three decades. His writing has appeared in Harper's Magazine, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Playboy and other publications. His memoir Pinochet and Me was a Los Angeles Times bestseller. Cooper is a contributing editor to The Nation and the host of the syndicated RadioNation.