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From Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and culture critic Christina Binkley comes an updated edition of her New York Times bestselling account of sex, drugs, and the rise of Las Vegas. With a new prologue on the rise and fall of Steve Wynn.
The Strip. Home to some of the world's grandest, flashiest, and most lucrative casino resorts, Las Vegas, with its multitude of attractions, draws millions of tourists from around the world every year. But Sin City hasn't always been booming: modern Vegas exists largely thanks to the extraordinary vision, and remarkable hubris, of three competing business moguls: Kirk Kerkorian, Dr. Gary Loveman, and Steve Wynn. And in the wake of #MeToo revelations, not all empires survive.
Having had personal access to all three tycoons, Binkley explains how their audacious efforts to reach the top-and to top one another-shaped the city as it stands. She takes us inside their grandest schemes, their riskiest deals, and the personalities that drove them to their greatest successes, and their most painful defeats. In this updated edition, she reveals the inside story of how Steve Wynn, the winner who took all, ultimately lost everything-twice.
Sharp, insightful, and revealing, Winner Takes All is the gripping story of how billions of dollars and the unparalleled drive for power turned dreams into larger-than-life reality.
"It's a great drama on the greatest stage. . . Wynn, Kerkorian, and Loveman represent three opposing business personalities, three styles of achieving success. On the Vegas Strip, they're pitted against one another like gladiators, and we've got front-row seats. Kapow!" - bestselling author Po Bronson
ASIN : B07BT9FKQV
Publisher : Grand Central Publishing (November 6, 2018)
Publication date : November 6, 2018
Language : English
File size : 3457 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 279 pages
Reviewer: THEGaryGreen
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Brilliant Book; horrible audio version
Review: I began reading the hardback version of Wall Street Journal writer Christina Binkley's brilliant Winner Takes All: Steve Wynn, Kirk Kerkorian, Gary Loveman, and the Race to Own Las Vegas just before going on a long drive. So, I decided to buy the CD's to listen to the rest of the book in my car.The audio version is GREAT comedy. The excellent research and superb interviews that Ms. Brinkley assembled in a very readable novel-esque narrative is totally subverted by the reading from some half-wit actress who did not bother to learn to properly pronounce even the most well-known Vegas names...never mind the myriad of artists, chefs, and lesser-known Vegas characters.If I could write in Mark Twain phonetics, I would try to spell the way this reader pronounced some of this names (I especially loved her version of Tony Spilotro, Henri Matisse, Sirio Maccioni). And I cannot even imagine how to put "breathing marks" into text to show you how she inappropriately broke paragraphs and sentences in her reading.Seriously, the audio version is SO bad that it was distracting to the point that it became comedy. I began calling people on my cell phone and playing portions of the book to them so they could share in the humor.Fortunately, when I returned home I turned back to print version of the book...which, again, is EXCELLENT.As a supposed Las Vegas "insider" myself -with decades in the gaming industry -I found the book accurate about Wynn (who she portrays a just a little Mel Books like nuts) and Loveman (who she characterizes as somewhat of a well-paid clod). The author seems to like the Kerkorian style better than either of the other two (as one might expect from a WSJ writer) and given that she may have been a little unfair to Steve Wynn.Nonetheless, not only did I find nothing "wrong" with the book, but I found it to be an outstanding follow-up of contemporary history to what everyone knows about "old Vegas" and even mid-era "family attraction" Vegas. Ms. Binkley has indeed written an important historical account of the latest incarnation of the ever-redefined Las Vegas.
Reviewer: Tennis Bum
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good, but uneven, treatment of recent Vegas development
Review: Christina Binkley's Winner Takes All book starts her tale of Vegas about ten years ago with the city transcending its role as the place for gamblers to become a travel destination for the world. It's understandable to start there. Binkley started reporting on Vegas for the Wall Street Journal, and a rush of consolidation begins.For the knowledgeable Vegas fan, it is disorienting. Telling the story of the Rio as being the place identified with gourmet food and wine overlooks that Jean-Louise Palladin (Napa restaurant) and the Rio's expensive wine cellar were part of the Masquerade Village expansion. The Rio did not drop onto the desert in 1997 with Jean-Louis holding bottles of Chateau Petrus. The book talks about Harrah's as not having a decent property in Vegas into the 1990's, only the old Holiday Casino, but Harrah's renamed and renovated the Holiday casino about a decade before the start of the book. Anything and everything that happens before 1997 is treated as a single cotemporaneous event.It seems to me this book is a good description of four recent events: The loss of the Mirage properties by Steve Wynn (the most compelling and best covered story of the four) The acquisition of Mirage and Mandalay Bay by MGM Harrah's growth based on analytics and the acquisition of Caesars The building of Wynn (the casino)Things I like:Being a former writer for the Wall Street Journal, the business aspects should be well covered, and they are. Beyond the three featured corporate players, the book also features many other chief officers of the Mirage, MGM, Harrahs and other corporations. There is also a good account of the transformation of Harrah's using customer based competing analytics.I liked the book's focus on recent (last decade) history of Vegas.I liked the well documented account of Kerkorian's buyout of Wynn's Mirage Corporation and of Steven Wynn's failures that led to the buyout. This is where the story is most compelling. When Wynn's vision becomes the only vision for the Mirage and there is no questioning or vetting of that vision, the Mirage Corporation flounders. People who disagree are fired (for example, the financial officer). The sycophants are given free range (for example, in Mississippi where a project spins wildly out of control). Wynn's arrogance, extravagance, and misplaced focus (worrying more about creating a new American musical than the over spending of hundreds of millions) drags the business down. Contrast that to Kerkorian who relies upon the skills of the people he hires, and the team beats the individual.Things I didn't like:What is it about Vegas that make journalists go gonzo? At times this book reads like a combination of Hunter Thompson and John Madden doing his color commentary. I do enjoy an informal, conversational, breezy style, but this is, at times, more like a hurricane. Do smart, educated people really need to be referred to as "propeller heads"?It's always easy to trace a linear trail back from the point of success to recreate the obvious outcome. I would have preferred to see successes juxtaposed with the many failed attempts in Vegas (other than just Wynn's loss of Mirage).In contradiction to the subtitle of the book, this is a story of the Strip, not Vegas (well, except for the above mentioned Rio). The Maloofs (Palms) and Fretittas (Stations) are barely mentioned. As story of the Strip, it's still not thorough. Sheldon Adelson is described, it seems, more as a disabled Macao casino owner than as a significant Strip casino owner. Donald Trump is more prominent than all the above named combined.The book is uneven. Some events, many dates and many details are missing, leaving a superficial feeling. Other times, the details are thick. We are told of the attire of individuals at some meetings. We get plenty of details on Steve Wynn's obsession with entertainment and his extravagant failures. Yet, we only get passing mentions of what Steve did with restaurants. The problems that Harrah's had in taking over the Rio are left to just a couple of vague sentences with no conclusion.Overall:A very good addition to the history of Vegas covering the most recent developments. I enjoy reading about Vegas, including the business of Vegas, so I enjoyed the book, and it was worth the purchase. If I'm looking for an even and thorough treatment of Sin City with single consistent point of view, I'm a little disappointed.
Reviewer: M. Strong
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Big audacious buildings; bigger, more audacious personalities.
Review: Las Vegas changed so much, so quickly over the past fifteen years, that it makes sense to take a step back and see how it all got started and played out so far. Binkley does just that in this well-researched and well-written chronicle of a frenzied period in Las Vegas' history filled with big buildings and even bigger personalities. You'll learn a lot reading this book, but it's also a truly fun read.Starting the book, I worried when Binkley mentioned the "greed" of the major casino owners in Las Vegas. Books about business that view the desire to improve profits as "greed" tend to not offer much insight, because they can't understand the diverse forces that drive the people running the companies. This book avoids that fate beautifully, really digging into the differences in character and personality amongst the different people who run the different companies that dominate the Vegas landscape.The most interesting thing about this book is getting behind the scenes with Steve Wynn, who comes across as the person who looks down the road five or ten years to what Las Vegas will need to become next in order to continue building on its own success and popularity. When everyone else copies his latest idea, he moves onto the next one, constantly pushing everyone, and the city, ahead with him. As the visionary of the bunch, he is the most fascinating character to follow, both for his successes, and for the troubles he has with people who minds are a little too stuck in the here-and-now for his taste.Highly recommended for anyone who likes business, Las Vegas, big personalities, or would just like to know a little more about how Las Vegas became the place it is today.
Reviewer: Financekid
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Excellent overview of the les Vegas casino industry pre 2008, it describes the three main players and their rise in addition to providing deal and leadership details and analysis. Good read if you are interested in the casino business.
Reviewer: waiver
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A tremendous researched Vegas History.Very good !
Reviewer: Andrew
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Without a doubt the best Las Vegas book iâve ever read and trust me iâve read lots and lots of them. The book covers the non romantic part of Vegasâs casinos honchos. Financing,debts,long exhausting nights planning,building and running hotels. At some point the author describes the soon to be Wynn Las Vegas facade glasses that were tested at the Desert Inn and it remembered me when I was living in Las Vegas at that time and noticed those glasses hung in there. If you want to know more what lies behind the glitz and marbles of the most incredible city in the world this is the book. Cheers,Andrea-Italy.
Reviewer: McBun
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A very enjoyable read but sadly runs out just before the financial crash that changed so much. Would love a Vol.2 covering the last decade!....would also have benefited from a photo section...
Reviewer: John Dufresne
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: very good
Customers say
Customers find the book easy to read and enjoyable. They appreciate the good insights, facts, and personal information woven into the compelling storyline. The story is described as fascinating and well-structured. Readers praise the writing style as well-written, fast-paced, and engaging. The characters are described as fascinating and have big personalities. Overall, customers describe the book as an interesting read before visiting Las Vegas.
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