The Fate of the American West
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- WIKIMEDIA COMMONSA view of Bellagio and Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.
On April 8th Nation Books released Judith Nies' latest book, Unreal City: Las Vegas, Black Mesa, and the Fate of the West.
Journalist and historian Judith Nies tracks an epic struggle over land, water, and power that is erupting in the American West and the halls of Washington, DC. Amid the backdrop of the breathtaking desert landscape, Unreal City shows five cultures colliding—Hopi, Navajo, global energy corporations, Mormons, and US government agencies—resulting in a battle over resources and the future of the West.
The story began almost forty years ago when a 4,000-square-mile area of Arizona desert called Black Mesa was divided between the Hopi and Navajo tribes. To the outside world, it was a land struggle between two fractious Indian tribes; to political insiders and energy corporations, it was a divide-and-conquer play for the 21 billion tons of coal beneath Black Mesa. Today, that coal powers cheap electricity for Los Angeles, a new water aqueduct into Phoenix, and the neon dazzle of Las Vegas.
Nies shows how the struggle over Black Mesa lands is 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. Unreal City explores how and why resources have been taken from native lands, what it means in an era of climate change, and why, in this city divorced from nature, the only thing more powerful than money is water.
Bill McKibben writes, "If you're headed to Las Vegas for vacation, pack this book along. In between visits to the giant pyramids and faux Manhattans, read it to get a real understanding of exactly how fragile this mirage is."
Judith Nies is the award-winning author of three nonfiction books: The Girl I Left Behind, Nine Women, and Native American History, which won the Phi Alpha Theta prize in international history. Her journalism, book reviews, and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The Boston Globe, Orion, Harvard Review, Women's Review of Books, and American Voice.
To purchase the book, click here.
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