Unreal City

March 24, 2014
In this well-researched book, Nies (The Girl I Left Behind: A Narrative History of the Sixties) presents a history of the social, political, and cultural conflicts over land, water, and energy that enabled the "Sunbelt Boom" and made the West what it isâa region dependent on coal and disappearing water sources , unwilling to discuss conservation "because it discourage growth." Nies centers her book on the creation of Las Vegas and presents an expansive history of the area, from indigenous Navajo and Hopi tribes to Mormon settlement and 20th century corporate dealings and federal interventions. The story that appears is one of "legal theft" of land and rights from the indigenous populations of Black Mesa in northern Arizona to supply power to Las Vegas and other desert cities. The book addresses all the major players and stakeholders, showing how the history and present state of the West are inextricable from Wall Street and Washington. This portrayal contrasts sharply with the popular and politicized vision of the West as individualistic and self-reliant. The presentation is dense and at times difficult to untangle. But in this regard, the reading experience very much reflects the muddled history and complex reality of the current resource struggles in the American West. Agent: Don Fehr, Trident Media Group.

March 15, 2014
A hard-hitting chronicle of the hidden history behind the creation of Las Vegas, including a large-scale resource grab and a grand plan to drive the Navajo people off their lands, abetted by corruption at the highest levels of government. Nies (The Girl I Left Behind: A Narrative History of the Sixties, 2008, etc.) chanced on the story in 1982, when she was given press credentials to a conference in Phoenix, Ariz., ostensibly celebrating Hopi arts and culture and featuring Robert Redford, Barry Goldwater and top corporate executives. The author began to have doubts as the story unfolded of a supposed "centuries-old land dispute" between the peaceful Hopi and aggressive Navajo Indians over a jointly occupied 4,000-square-mile reservation in the Black Mesa, a region in the Arizona desert that was located over 21 billion tons of coal. Thousands of Navajo sheepherders were resisting being forcibly relocated from their lands and losing their livelihood. Over time, Nies documented how divide-and-rule politics were being used to screen a major corporate land grab intended to gain access to the massive coal reserves. This led her to the powerful interests behind the Las Vegas gambling empire, which included the Goldwater family. She also investigated the broader water politics of the region, including the current depletion of major water sources such as Lake Mead and the Colorado River--a situation made worse by climate change. "Las Vegas has the highest per capita use of water in the country," she writes. Coal-powered plants are required to light the casinos and pump in the water for their ostentatious displays and to support the large population of visitors and residents. Nies situates what began as an apparently local issue in a broader context. A seeming dispute between two tribes, she writes, is "actually an example of a global phenomenon in which giant transnational corporations have the power to separate indigenous people from their energy-rich lands with the help of host governments." An important, multifaceted page-turner.

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