The Money and the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America, by Roger Morris and Sally Denton, Vintage, 2002, is the most important book ever written about Las Vegas and one of the most important books ever written about corporate-controlled America in the 20th Century. The prose can be clunky at times but there are stunning revelations on almost every page. The result is a clear and impeccably researched portrait of the criminal/corporate syndicates which run America and the role Las Vegas has played and plays in their exercise of power.

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