This month, Neal Cobb will be joined by David G. Schwartz, Ombuds, professor, and gaming historian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His book Something for Your Money shares stories about how Las Vegas became — and stayed — America’s gambling capital, focusing on the casinos that made it famous and the hustlers, gangsters, number-crunchers, and dreamers who made them and those who fought against Las Vegas — and gave the town its defining myth.

 Las Vegas has been a gambling town since its 1905 founding. Its gambling halls, casino hotels, and resorts made it first a local curiosity, then a national obsession, and finally a global destination. The modern American casino resort was born on a lonely stretch of road that, within a decade, would become known as the Las Vegas Strip.

Schwartz earned his Ph.D. in United States History from UCLA. He has written several books, and teaches casino history, video games, conspiracy theories, alternate history, and jazz history.