Popular Culture Review Vol. 25, No. 1, Winter 2014 | Page 145

BOOK REVIEWS 141 the U.S. with Mexicans and other national groups. Regional studies of Cumbia as it developed in such divergent location as Peru, Uruguay, and New York offer testimony of this genre’s remarkable appeal and influence across the Americas. Yet, as Fernandez L’Hoeste and Vila note, “[e]ach of the different national cases examined in [the] book illuminates a particular way in which Cumbia assists...different identification processes” (13). Even for those readers who have never heard of Cumbia, let alone danced to it, Cumbia! Scenes o f a Migrant Latin American Musical Genre will provide an accessible introduction to the genre. Through its variety of superbly conceived and theoretically edifying essays, it also offers scholars and students across the humanistic disciplines an invaluable work of music and cultural studies research on a foundational subject in Latin American and U.S. Latino popular culture that is sometimes overlooked. Vincent Perez, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Bright Light City: Las Vegas in Popular Culture Larry Gragg Lawrence: University Press o f Kansas, 2013 In Bright Light City, Larry Dell Gragg provides a major in-depth study of Las Vegas in popular culture, going beyond legalized gaming and the development of megaresorts. Of course, with over 122 casinos, 115,000 gaming machines, and over 4,000 table games, the metropolis is a gambler’s paradise. While much has been written about Las Vegas’s history and economy, a discussion of the role of the city in popular culture at large has not been available. Gragg’s work attempts to fill this gap by examining not only the history of Vegas, but also by describing how people’s perception of the desert oasis has changed over the last hundred years. Understanding that “Sin City” is not seen by many in the United States as a city with any depth or much character, Gragg begins his work by justifying his choice in choosing Las Vegas as a serious subject for study. In doing so, he challenges the stereotypical view of Las Vegas. Gragg explains that “it is critical to understand how local journalists,