In the desert of desire

by William L. Fox

Las Vegas, says writer Fox, is a pay-as-you-play paradise that succeeds through its collective ability to fantasize our deepest desires, which in a consumer society mean vast wealth and the excesses of pleasure and consumption that go with it. In this context, Fox examines how Las Vegas's culture of spectacle has obscured the boundaries between high art and entertainment extravaganza, nature and fantasy, for-profit and nonprofit enterprises. His purview ranges from casino art galleries to the dismally underfunded Las Vegas Art Museum; from spectacular casino animal collections to the city's...

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