Review by Choice Review
Taft (Yale Univ.) tells the story of the transformation of Bethlehem, PA, from a steel manufacturing giant to a post-industrial city in which casino gaming has attempted to replace the lost wealth of industry. The book's main contribution lies in its methods, which are primarily ethnographic and thus rely heavily on interviews. Taft's details consistently provide a vivid picture of the many tangible ways that the city has changed. From Steel to Slots illustrates the overwhelming significance that the steel plant had on everyday life in the city for many decades and how the new casino operations explicitly attempt to tap into this history. The result in Bethlehem, as in numerous other postindustrial cities, is unfortunately a service-based economy that seems to highlight and reinforce economic inequalities. As such, the book is a thoughtful critique of contemporary capitalism based on a case study of a very popular form of urban development: casino gaming. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Neil Kraus, University of Wisconsin--River Falls
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
