All In: The Spread of Gambling in Twentieth-Century United States ed. by Jonathan D. Cohen and David G. Schwartz (review)

As the title states, this book is a broad multidisciplinary study of gambling during the twentieth century in the US. At the turn of the twentieth century, commercial gambling had been all but outlawed across the nation. In contrast, by the turn of the twenty-first century, many forms of commercial gambling had been legalized and gambling was widely available in most states. The focus here is an examination of major historical, legal, social, religious, ethical, cultural, literary, and sporting influences on the restrictions and growth of US gambling over a century. In ten chapters, well-informed scholars analyze causes and consequences of this gambling evolution and its legitimizing processes. As background to these evolutionary processes, three factors were from time to time very important: Americans liked to gamble regardless of its legality, criminals and corporations became wealthy because the public liked to gamble, and state governments looking to reduce budget deficits were reluctant to raise taxes. In summary, All In: The Spread of Gambling in Twentieth-Century United States is a valuable reference book for its breadth of topics and depth of investigation by the authors.

Relevant especially for Great Plains readers is a chapter that explores the impact of gambling commercialization and casino development on the culture and land of the Ojibwe people in North Dakota. The author, Seema Kurup, uses the insightful writings of novelist Louise Erdrich, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, to examine the dynamics of casinos on tribal reservations and to document concerns about the preservation of tribal culture.

From the description of vignettes from Erdrich’s books, a paradox emerges. If reservation casinos have brought economic benefits and opportunities to invigorate dying elements of tribal identity (such as protection of languages), then this development appears to have been at the expense of tribal values and sovereignty. Using Erdrich’s stories, Kurup suggests that some disruption to traditional power structures and commodification of tribal traditions, symbols, and artefacts are closely linked to tribal casino development. While there are some successful casinos, many have not produced the benefits anticipated by the tribal group.

The methodology used in Kurup’s chapter is somewhat unusual but demonstrates a range of scholarly approaches useful in the study of gambling. It is very informative and well written, with the main points supported by book extracts and quotations. This chapter challenges everyone to respectfully consider the long-term costs of legalized gambling on tribal values, traditions, and identity.