Playing the Odds: Las Vegas and the Modern West by Hal K. Rothman (review)

B o o k r e v ie w s 3 1 7 between poems— a couple of days when he is too ill from chemotherapy to write, a week spent in the hospital— come to represent silences almost as poi­ gnant as the poems themselves. If it is ironic it may not nonetheless be a surprise that these poems, in all their roughness and candor, are those that finally made Brewer famous in his lifetime. For though he was beloved and well known in Utah and southern Idaho, Brewer’s work never broke through to a larger audience. The poems in Whale Song, however, with their particular grit and grace, led to appearances on regional and national radio and television, and since the book’s publication, they have become mainstays of cancer literature and models to patients of an approach to illness that is strong and tender, full of passion and compassion. Among them are his best poems, those for which I suspect he will continue to be remembered, both for their remarkable content and for their execution. There is nothing pretty in these poems, but there is much of beauty and even of sublimity in the old sense of the word: in which it contains the joy and the terror of an individual soul’s encounter with mortality. Playing the Odds: Las Vegas and the Modern West. By Hal K. Rothman. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2007. 262 pages, $24.95. Reviewed by Nate Botsis University of Nevada, Las Vegas The strength of Playing the Odds is Hal Rothman’s fresh perspective on Las Vegas and its relation to, and place within, the rest of the United States, particularly the West. He recognizes that in the postindustrial United States, leisure and self-indulgence are the hottest commodities and that Americans find their identities in popular and commercial culture as much as they do anywhere else. Las Vegas provides leisure and self-indulgence on a scale that no American city can rival, and the way it commercializes itself makes the Las Vegas experience alone a valuable commodity and an increasingly important part of our national identity. Rothman warns of the dangers of this newfound popularity and impor­ tance. As the demand for housing in Las Vegas increases, so does the cost of housing. As a result, the people who make Las Vegas special, those providing the services that create the Las Vegas experience, are in danger of being priced out of the market. If that happens, the quality of their service will plummet and with it the Las Vegas experience. It is important that the people doing their jobs on the strip can live better in Las Vegas for doing those jobs than they could anywhere else. After all, they are the ones who make Las Vegas such a desirable destination. Rothman also notes the interesting demographical changes in Las Vegas and warns of the possible consequences of these changes. Due to the high num­ 3 1 8 W e s t e r n A m e r ic a n L it e r a t u r e F a l l 2 0 0 8 ber of retirees and children who now live in Las Vegas, more pressure is placed on what Rothman terms “the sandwich generation.” This generation carries much of the weight for the very young and the very old. When more people contribute to their community, that community becomes stronger. If people sit back apathetically and expect the tourists and those who serve them to take care of them, then the feeling of community, and ultimately the community itself, atrophies. Perhaps, then, it is not coincidental that of the four sections of essays in the book, the “Las Vegas as Community” section is the shortest. Still, Playing the Odds is optimistic about Las Vegas and its future. Rothman makes it clear that the issues the city faces are the result of its amazing success and that ultimately the city’s biggest challenge is dealing well with it, some­ thing that is often as difficult to do as becoming successful in the first place. He emphasizes the strength of Las Vegas: the...