{"product_id":"satans-playground-mobsters-and-movie-stars-at-americas-greatest-gaming-resort-9780822347026","title":"Satan's Playground: Mobsters and Movie Stars at America's Greatest Gaming Resort","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003ci\u003eSatan's Playground\u003c\/i\u003e chronicles the rise and fall of the tumultuous and lucrative gambling industry that developed just south of the U.S.-Mexico border in the early twentieth century. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs prohibitions against liquor, horse racing, gambling, and prostitution swept the United States, the vice industry flourished in and around Tijuana, to the extent that reformers came to call the town \"Satan's Playground,\" unintentionally increasing its licentious allure. The area was dominated by Agua Caliente, a large, elegant gaming resort opened by four entrepreneurial Border Barons (three Americans and one Mexican) in 1928.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDiplomats, royalty, film stars, sports celebrities, politicians, patricians, and nouveau-riche capitalists flocked to Agua Caliente's luxurious complex of casinos, hotels, cabarets, and sports extravaganzas, and to its world-renowned thoroughbred racetrack. Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Louis B. Mayer, the Marx Brothers, Bing Crosby, Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, and the boxer Jack Dempsey were among the regular visitors. So were mobsters such as Bugsy Siegel, who later cited Agua Caliente as his inspiration for building the first such resort on what became the Las Vegas Strip.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLess than a year after Agua Caliente opened, gangsters held up its money-car in transit to a bank in San Diego, killing the courier and a guard and stealing the company money pouch. Paul J. Vanderwood weaves the story of this heist gone wrong, the search for the killers, and their sensational trial into the overall history of the often-chaotic development of Agua Caliente, Tijuana, and Southern California. Drawing on newspaper accounts, police files, court records, personal memoirs, oral histories, and \"true detective\" magazines, he presents a fascinating portrait of vice and society in the Jazz Age, and he makes a significant contribution to the history of the U.S.-Mexico border.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Paul J. Vanderwood\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Duke University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/09\/2010\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 410\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.30lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.20h x 6.00w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780822347026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/08\/2010 pg. 44\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/15\/2010\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaul J. Vanderwood (1929-2011) was a Professor Emeritus of Mexican History at San Diego State University. He was the author of several books including \u003ci\u003eJuan Soldado: Rapist, Murderer, Martyr, Saint\u003c\/i\u003e, also published by Duke University Press; \u003ci\u003eThe Power of God against the Guns of Government: Religious Upheaval in Mexico at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eDisorder and Progress: Bandits, Police, and Mexican Development\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eBorder Fury: A Picture Postcard Record of Mexico's Revolution and U.S. War Preparedness, 1910-1917\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":40198583189619,"sku":"0822347024","price":48.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_98b2a2f5-3688-41cc-bd4c-f2b144fb2b67.jpg?v=1656079122","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/en-de\/products\/satans-playground-mobsters-and-movie-stars-at-americas-greatest-gaming-resort-9780822347026","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}