Back to Where You Once Belonged: Las Vegas Writers Weigh the Power of the Past

(Paperback)

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In a wide-ranging anthology that moves from the ancient artists of Southern Nevada's who carved petroglyphs into rock walls to contemporary family trauma, 10 Las Vegas essayists examine the weight of the past on the presentand, perhaps, on the future. Set in and around a city with its own peculiar and complicated relationship to the very idea of history, these eclectic narratives examine the topic from a variety of surprising directions.
Go back in time to visit the "basketweaving" tribes who predate the city's founding. Experience the heady midcentury days of freewheeling law-enforcement. Follow an abuse survivor as she revisits the sites of family torment. Join a young African-American man as he experiences a racial epiphany in the county morgue. Listen in as a photography model ponders the psychology of the men who hire her to recreate urgent moments from their pasts.
Through such stories, this collectionthe eighth volume in the Las Vegas Writes seriespresents a singular view of a city that's forever negotiating the uneasy passage between then and now.

Author Bio

Scott Dickensheets is the deputy editor of Desert Companion, the magazine of Nevada Public Radio. Before that, he edited Las Vegas CityLife and the Las Vegas Weekly, served as managing editor of Las Vegas Life, and worked in a number of positions at the Las Vegas Sun, from assistant features editor to columnist. Prior to that, he worked as a publicist and magazine editor for the Allied Arts Council. Dickensheets has edited four previous volumes of the Las Vegas Writes series and was an assistant editor on Nevada: 150 Years in the Silver State. As the senior director of content for the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, Geoff Schumacher creates exhibits, acquires artifacts, develops educational programs, and serves as a historical resource for media outlets. Before joining the museum in 2014, Schumacher was a journalist for 25 years. He was a reporter and city editor for the Las Vegas Sun, editor of Las Vegas CityLife and the Las Vegas Mercury, and director of community publications and a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He culminated his newspaper career as publisher of the Ames (Iowa) Tribune. He is the author of Sun, Sin & Suburbia: The History of Modern Las Vegas and Howard Hughes: Power, Paranoia & Palace Intrigue. He edited Nevada: 150 Years in the Silver State and three editions of the Las Vegas Writes book series.