Download or read book The Word On The Street written by Kurt Borchard and published by University of Nevada Press. This book was released on 2005-03-01 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Just beyond Las Vegas’s neon and fantasy live thousands of homeless people, most of them men. To the millions of visitors who come to Las Vegas each year to enjoy its gambling and entertainment, the city’s homeless people are largely invisible, segregated from tourist areas because it’s “good business.” Now, through candid discussions with homeless men, analysis of news reports, and years of fieldwork, Kurt Borchard reveals the lives and desperation of men without shelter in Las Vegas. Borchard’s account offers a graphic, disturbing, and profoundly moving picture of life on Las Vegas’s streets, depicting the strategies that homeless men employ in order to survive, from the search for a safe place to sleep at night to the challenges of finding food, maintaining personal hygiene, and finding an acceptable place to rest during a long day on the street. That such misery and desperation exist in the midst of Las Vegas’s hedonistic tourist economy and booming urban development is a cruel irony, according to the author, and it threatens the city’s future as a prime tourist destination. The book will be of interest to social workers, sociologists, anthropologists, politicians, and all those concerned about changing the misery on the street.
Download or read book Beneath the Neon written by Matthew O'Brien and published by Huntington Press Inc. This book was released on 2007-03-07 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas chronicles O’Brien’s adventures in subterranean Las Vegas. He follows the footsteps of a psycho killer. He braces against a raging flood. He parties with naked crackheads. He learns how to make meth, that art is most beautiful where it’s least expected, that in many ways, he prefers underground Las Vegas to aboveground Las Vegas, and that there are no pots of gold under the neon rainbow.
Download or read book Dark Days Bright Nights written by Matthew O'Brien and published by Central Recovery Press. This book was released on 2020-11-17 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vivid and enlightening oral account of homelessness in the Las Vegas storm drains and the hard work of re-entering mainstream society. Are you aware that hundreds of people live underground in the flood channels of Las Vegas? Few people were until Matthew O'Brien grabbed a flashlight, tape recorder, and expandable baton for protection and explored the storm-drain system in depth. This research resulted in his landmark book Beneath the Neon. Now the drains have been covered by CNN, Fox News, NPR, Dr. Phil, the New York Times, the BBC, Al Jazeera, and many other media outlets. They have even found their way on to popular TV shows, including CSI, Criminal Minds, and into mainstream movies. But the fact that several of these drug- and gambling-addicted tunnel dwellers have clawed their way out of the drains and turned around their lives has received far less attention. Dark Days, Bright Nights shares their harrowing stories and provides a unique perspective on one of America's most fascinating cities. It also paints a larger picture of homelessness and recovery in America. These stories are the happy (though not Hollywood) ending to the infamous tunnel tale. The narrative is complemented by bios and stark, black-and-white images of the survivors, putting a scarred, knowing face to the unblinkingly honest accounts.
Download or read book The Secret History of Las Vegas written by Chris Abani and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-01-07 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gritty, riveting, and wholly original murder mystery from PEN/Hemingway Award-winning author and 2015 Edgar Awards winner Chris Abani Before he can retire, Las Vegas detective Salazar is determined to solve a recent spate of murders. When he encounters a pair of conjoined twins with a container of blood near their car, he’s sure he has apprehended the killers, and enlists the help of Dr. Sunil Singh, a South African transplant who specializes in the study of psychopaths. As Sunil tries to crack the twins, the implications of his research grow darker. Haunted by his betrayal of loved ones back home during apartheid, he seeks solace in the love of Asia, a prostitute with hopes of escaping that life. But Sunil’s own troubled past is fast on his heels in the form of a would-be assassin. Suspenseful through the last page, The Secret History of Las Vegas is Chris Abani’s most accomplished work to date, with his trademark visionary prose and a striking compassion for the inner lives of outsiders.
Download or read book My Week at the Blue Angel written by Matthew O'Brien and published by Huntington Press Inc. This book was released on 2011-03 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A savage journey into the heart of Hunter S. Thompson's Las Vegas with the Good Doctor as tour guide. A Lord-of-the-Rings-like adventure in the city's underground flood channels. A seven-day stay at a seedy motel on East Fremont Street. The stories in My Week at the Blue Angel aren't about Steve Wynn, Cirque du Soleil, or how to play poker, and they aren't set in Caesars Palace, XS Nightclub, or a 2,000-seat showroom. They're about prostitutes, ex-cons, and the homeless, and they're set under Caesars Palace and in trailer parks and weekly motels. In this creative nonfiction collection, Matthew O'Brien--author of Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas--and veteran photographer Bill Hughes show a side of the city rarely seen. A side beyond the neon lights, themed facades, and motel-room doors. A side beyond the barbwire fences, No Trespassing signs, and midnight shadows.
Download or read book Homeless in Las Vegas written by Kurt Borchard and published by University of Nevada Press. This book was released on 2011-04-28 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The homeless men and women represented in this book speak candidly about their plight, its origins, and the many obstacles to escaping it. They discuss the unique challenges and opportunities that Las Vegas’s focus on tourism, indulgence, and diversion offers its homeless residents. This compelling and emotionally charged ethnography counters many of the stereotypes of homeless men and women, revealing the remarkable diversity of their circumstances. It also offers their perspectives on social services and civic attitudes toward homelessness.
Download or read book Storming Las Vegas written by John Huddy and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2009-04-28 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On September 20, 1998, Jose Vigoa, a child of Fidel Castro’s revolution, launched what would be the most audacious and ruthless series of high-profile casino and armored car robberies that Las Vegas had ever seen. In a brazen sixteen-month reign of terror, he and his crew would hit the crème de la crème of Vegas hotels: the MGM, the Desert Inn, the New York—New York, the Mandalay Bay, and the Bellagio. The robberies were well planned and executed, and the police–“the stupids,” as Vigoa contemptuously referred to them–were all but helpless to stop them. But Lt. John Alamshaw, the twenty-three-year veteran in charge of robbery detectives, was not giving up so easily. For him, Vigoa’s rampage was a personal affront. And he would do whatever it took, even risk his badge, to bring Vigoa down.
Download or read book 48 written by Dr. Sheldon A. Jacobs and published by Archway Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11-05 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr. Sheldon A. Jacobs, a licensed marriage and family therapist who is an advocate for the homeless, was alarmed by the growing problem of homelessness in his Las Vegas community. On his daily route to and from work, he’d see scores of homeless individuals camped out on sidewalks. Despite his regular efforts to provide hygiene kits, water, and sometimes food to those in need, he still felt a strong sense of hopelessness. He wanted to do something that would be impactful, but he did not know what that would entail. One day, he crossed paths with a homeless woman at the gym and was inspired to pursue a radical plan: He would go undercover as a homeless man for forty-eight hours. His wife thought he was crazy and was concerned for his safety, but he courageously pushed forward. Join the author as he reveals what he learned begging for money in the desert while trying to raise awareness of homelessness.
Download or read book The Mole People written by Jennifer Toth and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 1995-10-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about the thousands of people who live in the subway, railroad, and sewage tunnels of New York City.
Download or read book Hit Me written by Jay Bonansinga and published by Lyons Press. This book was released on 2013-05-07 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Las Vegas, 1970s—a golden age of Glitter Gulch corruption. Dennis Gomes--the youngest division chief in Gaming Control Board history--whipped a ragtag group of auditors into hardened, gun-slinging investigators, and shattered clichés about milquetoast accountant cops. Coming within a hair’s breadth of death more than once, Gomes capped off his tenure with the famous bust of the Stardust skim, portrayed in the book and movie Casino. In Hit Me!, there’s action to fill a dozen Scorsese films—midnight raids, heart-rending showgirl romances, and deadly double-crosses. And the cast of characters reads like a roll call of gangster lore. But no matter how much evidence Gomes uncovered, or how many witnesses and informants were bloodied, Gomes was swept aside by a political system that was dirty to its core. It took nearly three decades, but in 2007, Gomes made a date with destiny at The Family Secrets Trial--the justice system finally taking out a “hit” on the mob. In a Chicago courtroom on July 30, 2007, Gomes--a key prosecutorial witness--finally settled all scores. Dennis Gomes, who passed away in February 2012, will be posthumously inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame in Las Vegas in October 2012.
Download or read book Witch written by Glenn Puit and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2005-12-06 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on extensive interviews with the accused herself, here is the sordid, twisted, and surprising story of Brookey Lee West—a successful technical writer from Silicon Valley who became Las Vegas’ most notorious female serial killer. In February, 2001, police uncovered the decomposed remains of Christine Smith bagged like garbage in a Las Vegas storage unit. She’d been dead for years. Next to the makeshift tomb were books on witchcraft and Satanism. It didn’t take long for authorities to discover that the owner of the foul Canyon Gate Unit #317 was Christine’s own daughter, Brookey Lee West. Further investigation revealed something even more shocking—a one-woman crime spree that spanned two decades, stretched from Nevada to California, and may have counted among its victims Brookey’s own husband and brother....
Download or read book Microshelters written by Derek Diedricksen and published by Storey Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2015-09-19 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you dream of living in a tiny house, or creating a getaway in the backwoods or your backyard, you’ll love this gorgeous collection of creative and inspiring ideas for tiny houses, cabins, forts, studios, and other microshelters. Created by a wide array of builders and designers around the United States and beyond, these 59 unique and innovative structures show you the limits of what is possible. Each is displayed in full-color photographs accompanied by commentary by the author. In addition, Diedricksen includes six sets of building plans by leading designers to help you get started on a microshelter of your own. You’ll also find guidelines on building with recycled and salvaged materials, plus techniques for making your small space comfortable and easy to inhabit.
Download or read book Channel Kindness Stories of Kindness and Community written by Born This Way Foundation Reporters and published by Feiwel & Friends. This book was released on 2020-09-22 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Bestseller For Lady Gaga, kindness is the driving force behind everything she says and does. The quiet power of kindness can change the way we view one another, our communities, and even ourselves. She embodies this mission, and through her work, brings more kindness into our world every single day. Lady Gaga has always believed in the importance of being yourself, being kind to yourself, and being kind to others, no matter who they are or where they come from. With that sentiment in mind, she and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, founded Born This Way Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making the world a kinder and braver place. Through the years, they've collected stories of kindness, bravery and resilience from young people all over the world, proving that kindness truly is the universal language. And now, we invite you to read these stories and follow along as each and every young author finds their voice just as Lady Gaga has found hers. Within these pages, you’ll meet young changemakers who found their inner strength, who prevailed in the face of bullies, who started their own social movements, who decided to break through the mental health stigma and share how they felt, who created safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth, and who have embraced kindness with every fiber of their being by helping others without the expectation of anything in return. In one story, you’ll read about a young person with an autoimmune disease, who after being bullied at school, learned how to practice self-love and started an organization with the mission of educating others about the importance of self-love, too; and in another story, you’ll meet a young person who decided to start a movement to help eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health and encouraged others to talk about their feelings openly and honestly, a reminder that kindness and mental wellness go hand in hand. Not only were we moved by these individual acts of kindness, but we were also touched by the many stories of organizations, neighborhoods, and entire communities that fully dedicated themselves to helping those in need and found new, innovative ways to make our world a kinder and braver place. Individually and collectively, these stories prove that kindness not only saves lives but builds community. Kindness is inclusion, it is pride, it is empathy, it is compassion, it is self-respect and it is the guiding light to love. Kindness is always transformational, and its never-ending ripples result in even more kind acts that can change our lives, our communities, and our world.
Download or read book The Kingdom of Happiness written by Aimee Groth and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-02-21 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fearless gonzo journalism—an insider’s look at the enigmatic and successful CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, and his quest to create his own version of utopia in the center of Las Vegas. In 2010 Tony Hsieh was introduced to many as a visionary modern business leader. Under Hsieh’s leadership, Zappos became the world’s largest online shoe company by championing satisfied customers and a valued workforce. After his company was purchased by Amazon, even as he continued as its CEO, Hsieh engaged his energies and considerable fortune toward a much larger goal: building a new and more socially conscious Silicon Valley in the heart of downtown Las Vegas, all within his five-year plan. Hsieh challenged business and technology journalist Aimee Groth to uproot her life and participate in his social engineering experiment. Beginning with couch surfing, moving to a Downtown Project crash pad, and then living in Zappos corporate housing above the Gold Spike bar, Groth had a front-row view of Hsieh’s efforts to build his ideal society. With interviews from insiders on all ends of the Zappos spectrum—like the “broken dolls” who gravitate toward Hsieh’s almost cultlike personality and make up some of his inner circle, to the Zapponians who live and work on campus, to players in the top echelon of Silicon Valley—Groth offers a unique view of a world few people know much about, and sheds a new light on this complex, eccentric man. The Kingdom of Happiness is the story of one man’s quest to create his own nirvana in the desert based on his exacting design and experimentation with lessons he’s gleaned not only from the incredible success of Zappos, but also from rave culture and Burning Man. Is it the business model of the future or a cautionary tale of hubris?
Download or read book American Gypsy written by Oksana Marafioti and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2012-07-03 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recounts the author's early experiences as a fifteen-year-old Gypsy emigrating with her family from the Soviet Union to the United States.
Download or read book The Canaries written by Thilde Jensen and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Health Care for the Homeless Grantee Profiles written by and published by . This book was released on with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
