Children of Las Vegas : True Stories About Growing up in the World's Playground

Thirty-seven million people visit Las Vegas every year. It's a city that offers to fulfil all your desires, without any repercussions. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas... right? But what happens to the people who have to grow up there?__Children of Las Vegas__tells ten of their stories, recorded by award-winning author Timothy O'Grady: tales of overdoses, desert shoot-outs, suicides, casinos, desert air and broken dreams. They include the son of a casino owner whose father gambled their fortune away and died broke and alone; a mother of five whose partner kidnapped her children and is now a meth addict, living in the tunnels within sight of the glittering lights of the city; and a 23-year-old star performer, turned male prostitute.These are the children of the card dealers and the cocktail shakers, the jugglers and the dancers, the limo drivers and the wheel spinners. These are the children whose parents don't come home until they've left for school. These are the children whose parents might not come home at all.Their stories are interspersed with short essays about the city by Timothy and portraits by highly acclaimed photographer Steve Pyke. There are horror stories in every city, but these things aren't just happening__in__Las Vegas... they're happening__because of it__. Thirty-seven million people visit Las Vegas every year. It's a city that offers to fulfil all your desires, without any repercussions. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas... right? But what happens to the people who have to grow up there? Children of Las Vegas tells ten of their stories, recorded by award-winning author Timothy O'Grady: tales of overdoses, desert shoot-outs, suicides, casinos, desert air and broken dreams. They include the son of a casino owner whose father gambled their fortune away and died broke and alone; a mother of five whose partner kidnapped her children and is now a meth addict, living in the tunnels within sight of the glittering lights of the city; and a 23-year-old star performer, turned male prostitute. These are the children of the card dealers and the cocktail shakers, the jugglers and the dancers, the limo drivers and the wheel spinners. These are the children whose parents don't come home until they've left for school. These are the children whose parents might not come home at all. Their stories are interspersed with short essays about the city by Timothy and portraits by highly acclaimed photographer Steve Pyke. There are horror stories in every city, but these things aren't just happening in Las Vegas... they're happening because of it . Over forty million people a year travel to Vegas, more than to Mecca. It is a global celebrity, an improbable oasis, a place offering bank-breaking fortunes and instant gratification, 24/7, with no moral debits.Award-winning writer Timothy O'Grady lived in Vegas for two years. He finally began to understand it when he talked to people who had grown up there, the children of the card dealers and cocktail shakers, the jugglers and the dancers – young people who had been bearing witness to this strange city all their lives. One had her student loans and credit card limits stolen by her father. Another fled a sequence of exploiters until she found herself living in the storm drains under the casinos. There is the boy whose father entered him into a drinking contest when he was eight, the casino owner's son, the erudite contortionist turned stripper. Each tells their own tale. In Children of Las Vegas, O'Grady renews his partnership with renowned photographer Steve Pyke. Through short essays, Pyke's portraits and ten witness testimonies, he pierces the city's glittering façade to reveal the darker reality that lies beneath. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas . . . right? But what happens to the people who have to grow up there? Children of Las Vegas tells 10 of their tales of overdoses, desert shoot-outs, suicides, casinos, desert air, and broken dreams. They include the son of a casino owner whose father gambled their fortune away and died broke and alone; a mother of five whose partner kidnapped her children and is now a meth addict, living in the tunnels within sight of the glittering lights of the city; and a 23-year-old star performer, turned male prostitute. These are the children of the card dealers and the cocktail shakers, the limo drivers and the wheel spinners. Their stories are interspersed with short essays about the city by Timothy O'Grady and portraits by highly acclaimed photographer Steve Pyke. There are horror stories in every city, but these things aren't just happening in Las Vegas . . . they're happening because of it.