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Popular Culture Review
Stability,” “Providing & Disposing,” “Abstraction & Extraction,” and “Scraping
& Sprawling.” Throughout, the thoughtful reader can find innumerable ways to
look at and learn from Las Vegas—but not necessarily to celebrate, dismiss, or
excuse it. With the material appearing as Las Vegas became the national leader
(?) in home foreclosures, gaming revenue dropped, and large-scale projects
teetered on the brink of cancellation or simply sat half-finished, Urbanizing the
Mojave Desert gains even more resonance and importance.
Indeed, what you think of Las Vegas is reminiscent of Tom Lehrer’s great
line that life is like a sewer: what you get out of it depends upon what you put
into it. The tourist who wants only to gamble, eat, drink, and enjoy the Strip, or
the scholar who wants to know only what fits his or her preconceptions, or
anyone who thinks that Las Vegas is simply Frank, Dean, Sammy, or some
reasonable facsimile thereof will be amazed to find that the Las Vegas of
Urbanizing the Mojave Desert exists. For those who live in Las Vegas, or study
it, or both, this book is not merely vital. It is vitally necessary.
Michael Green, College of Southern Nevada
Not All Okies Are White: The Lives of
Black Cotton Pickers in Arizona
Geta LeSeur
University of Missouri Press, 2000
When we think of the term “Okies” most of us turn to the traditional notion
of migrant farmers as described in John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes o f Wrath,
and as depicted in the film of the same name. In her collection of oral narratives
called Not All Okies Are White (University of Missouri Press), Dr. Geta LeSeur
presents an alternate view, one that adds a multicultural aspect to “Okies” and
reshapes our sense of the mass exodus that redefined significant aspects of
American culture.
Not All Okies Are White is a description of a small town called Randolph, in
Arizona, and begins with an assertion of the heart and historical scope of Dr.
LeSeur’s enterprise. She is interested primarily in the black migrant community
that settled in Randolph but also intends to delve into the entire history of the
town and examine the ethnic complexities that comprise its community.
Randolph’s citizenry is comprised of a unique combination of elements. It
includes black migrant farmers fleeing economic disaster, white farmers and
businessmen, Mexican immigrants starting fresh, and Native American Indian
families trying to maintain a culture irrevocably altered by history and the influx
of newcomers. The town, in many ways, mirrors the history of many American
towns. It has an agricultural aspect (cotton farms) and suffers the disaster of
industry polluting the environment and wearing on the health of its citizens.