american byzantium by
at the beginning of the third millennium, las vegas, evada has become a new model of consumer entertainment--the total pleasure market in which everything is for sale. hancock's superb photographic eye chronicles the pop-culture fantasy playground that is las vegas, a physical location as much as an idea, a place that deliberately blurs politics, money, art, religion, entertainment, sex, and anything else architects can imagine and marketeers can sell. the range of hancock's images is as diverse as the city itself: the town's neon-saturated nights; the glitzy, monumental hotel-palaces; the decaying buildings yielding to wrecking crews; the billboards that sell everything and convey unexpected truths; and a sampling of all that draws a worldwide audience seeking to be entertained.

accompanying hancock's startling images and perceptive introductory essay is gregory mcnamee's thoughtful reconsideration of las vegas. his essay relates in words what hancock narrates visually, exposing in the process a city caught between opulence, glamour, fantasy and poverty, decay, and despair.

a perfect book for a coffee table, gift, or just to take a look at what “was” in the long ago vegas of 8 years ago.

120 pages, 11 x 8.9 inches, hardcover, full color throughout