Keeping it simple

One of the challenges of being an academic who’s asked to comment on history for the media is being able to share my ideas about history in a way that is accessible to all. The articles I write for the Business Press, for example, have a different tone than purely scholarly articles that I write. But, if this transcript from KLAS-TV is to believed, I might have gone too far:

In its early days, gaming small clubs and corner bars. It was the sole reason for tourists to trek to the middle of the desert. As more people came, so did the hotels, restaurants and shops — turning Las Vegas into mega-resorts and the world famous Strip.

Early lawmakers would probably be stunned at how gaming impacted Nevada.

David Schwartz, director of UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research, said, “So, they really had no idea the scale. They saw it as one of the things the state would do along with industrial, commercial efforts. If they were to come back here today! Casinos got so big!”

KLASTV.com - Nevada’s 75 Years of Legalized Gambling

I haven’t seen the video package on the big 75th, (click on the link to the left of the story) so you can judge exactly what I said–I think I’m on there. But I’d like to think that I don’t really! talk! in exclamation points! And I think a few words were left out. Still, it’s funny stuff.

Maybe that’s what I should have called Suburban Xanadu: “Casinos Got So Big! The Casino Resort on the Las Vegas Strip and Beyond.”