{"product_id":"dream-city-hardcover","title":"Dream City - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eDouglas Unger\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this unconventional tale of Las Vegas during the two delirious boom decades before the bust of the Great Recession, failed actor \"C. D.\" Reinhart, who has launched a new career in hotel marketing, is gradually losing his moral and existential compass. Working on The Strip during an era when Sin City's population growth was outpacing any other place in America, C. D. climbs the industry ladder while modeling himself after a Pyramid Resorts top executive, Lance Sheperd. C. D.'s professional choices lead him down a tumultuous road, as Sheperd, a complex and, at times, visionary figure, pilots his ventures through the tangled wheeling and dealing of finance and corporate politics straight into catastrophe. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e As the story progresses, C. D. comes to understand how his personal losses and the losses of his cohort of hard driving executives on the make--especially the tragic life of his work partner, Greta Olsson, the only woman to break through into their male dominated world--are a result of the make-believe environment he has helped to create, a world where representation replaces reality. Hoping to piece together his faltering marriage and family relationships, C. D. must find a new path as he struggles to hold onto his dreams. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In this fictionalized version of the city of glittering lights, author Douglas Unger pits the ideologies of marketing and consumerism in the casino economy of America against the erosion of individual and humane values that success in that world demands. Unger reveals the hard truth that Las Vegas, a blue-collar town considered by many to be \"the most honest city,\" can be a temple for self-deceptions, emblematic of a service economy that knows the price of everything and too often the value of little else. \u003ci\u003eDream City \u003c\/i\u003ebecomes both a love song and an elegy for Las Vegas that sets it apart from any other literary novel previously written about this global entertainment attraction that in so many ways represents postmodern America. Sooner or later, the challenge that faces everyone is to discover what matters most, and to learn how to bet on the better angels of our natures.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDouglas Unger\u003c\/b\u003e has long been known as a writer of political fiction. He is the author of four novels, including \u003ci\u003eLeaving the Land\u003c\/i\u003e, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and Robert F. Kennedy Award, and \u003ci\u003eVoices from Silence\u003c\/i\u003e, a year's end selection by \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post's\u003c\/i\u003e Book World. He is also the author of the short story collection \u003ci\u003eLooking for War and Other Stories\u003c\/i\u003e. Unger's writing has appeared in \u003ci\u003eNarrative, Boulevard, Southwest Review, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Brooklyn Rail, \u003c\/i\u003eand numerous other publications. He is cofounder of the MFA in Creative Writing International and the PhD with Creative Dissertation programs at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he teaches in the Department of English affiliated with the Black Mountain Institute, an important literary center in the American West. Unger also serves on the executive board of Words without Borders. In 2007, he was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 356\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.2 x 8.6 x 5.6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 08, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51758525743392,"sku":"9781647791650","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/f43d193a4712ba4aee198ecb6246dd9e_a725db2e-f3b7-4474-a6cf-5e34783f9882.webp?v=1780128713","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/dream-city-hardcover","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}