Unveiling 'The Las Vegas Book': A Monumental Tribute To The Legends Who Shaped Sin City’s Legacy

Have you ever wondered about the rise of Sin City and the figures behind it? Wonder no more. “The Las Vegas Book,” a luxurious coffee table collectible by historian Joris Dekkers, will answer all your questions and more. Launching on Sunday, Nov. 10, this 18-pound book that spans 450 pages across 28 chapters, is a limited-edition with only 3,500 copies available. 

With captivating photos and untold stories from cover to cover, this is a must have for any Las Vegas lover. 

While the book tells the story of the rise of Las Vegas, from desert town to the “Entertainment Capital of the World,” there’s a strong focus on celebrating some of the major influences in the city’s rise to prominence.

Frank Sinatra is synonymous with any talk of Las Vegas. “The Chairman of the Board” became a defining figure in Sin City’s identity. In the 1960s, Sinatra and the Rat Pack transformed the Sands Hotel into something iconic that attracted Hollywood’s elite and more. 

Another prominent figure in Vegas history is Elvis Presley, who revolutionized the entertainment scene with his 1969 comeback at the International Hotel. His residency began the now-iconic Las Vegas residency model. Many great performers have since held Vegas residencies, including Adele, Dita Von Teese, Usher, Christina Aguilera, and many others. 

Steve Wynn is another major influence in Vegas history. He changed the city’s skyline and reshaped the landscape with his visionary resorts. The Mirage was the first of his mega-resorts in 1989, and it’s been nothing but growth since.

Dekkers has been visiting Vegas for about 18 years and became more and more interested in the history of the area.

“I think my first kind of interest into the deeper levels behind the city started emerging when I was 30 years old, and the moment, I think, that groundbreaking moment was when I visited the Wynn with a friend. I was so amazed by the resort and when I got back home, I started reading about it,” Dekkers exclusively told The Blast. “I think it’s just my passion of Vegas gradually has increased over the years, and you see Vegas changing a lot.”

After joining some Facebook groups dedicated to Las Vegas, Dekkers realized that there was an increasing worry that the 90s era was vanishing too fast. He also noticed that there were many people interested in the history of the area who were holding onto the past.

From start to finish, it took Dekkers two years to complete the 450-page book. He told The Blast that the story came to him in 2022, and it was a “gradual process.” 

“I still had a job, a pretty important role in the Netherlands, where I’m from. But I didn’t like the job, and I thought, you know, I want to dedicate myself full-time to this project,” he said. “I feel so inclined to, I felt a calling I guess, to do something.”

For anyone thinking of purchasing one of the limited-edition books, Dekkers said this is really a “collector’s item.” 

“This is a book that’s the first of its kind in its size, length, exterior,” he explained. 

“All the other Vegas books that I’ve read so far, they’re more like hardcovers, small pocket books, which you could read on an airplane, but this one is really a collector’s item. That’s one of the main contributions that I wanted to bring to Vegas, that as people are so proud of the city, that they would have something at home which incorporates everything that they want to hold onto about the city’s past. And I think it’s also the first book that really takes the Strip as the focal point, so not as much the whole story of Vegas. It really puts an emphasis on the founders, so the people that built the city.”

While doing his extensive research into the history of the vibrant city, Dekkers realized that there are a lot of presumptions out there. 

“If you ask people about the history of Vegas, they have these notions of the mob, you know, Vegas was a mafia town, and the mafia days were dangerous, those kinds of things,” he explained. “Was it that dangerous? No, it wasn’t. I mean, it was actually a very safe place, Vegas. Whatever the mob did in the 50s, they did to themselves. They did it outside in the desert, never on the street.”

Dekkers said that Vegas is “always moving forward” and that’s the “importance of the book.” 

For Dekkers, Vegas was the city he wanted to write about.

"It was always Vegas. I think it's every person that loves Vegas, and there's 40 million every year that visit the town," he said. "There's no place on earth where you can experience so much in 24 hours in Las Vegas."

He explained that for most visitors, a day in Vegas doesn't exactly get planned. And with so much to do and see, every day can be a very different experience.

"You're walking around, and you don't know what to do and then you walk into some people, and they tell you about a show and you think, 'Oh wow, that's cool,'" he continued.

"There's no city in the world that has this because you really meet so many interesting people. I don't think there's any city in the world where you meet people that come from all different places in the world and they all interact because they're all visiting this for the same reason, for the spontaneousness in the city. I guess that is really what makes Vegas Vegas and that's also what I think made me so excited about writing a book because I know people are so passionate about the town."

Handmade in Northern Italy, each copy of "The Las Vegas Book" is presented in a velvet-lined leather case with gold foil embossing. Advised by industry figures including Glen Schaeffer, former president and CFO of Mandalay Resort Group, and Roger Thomas, former Executive Vice President of Design for Wynn Resorts, the book offers decades of insider perspectives.

"The Las Vegas Book" is currently available for pre-order and will release on Sunday, Nov. 10. Only 3,500 copies will be available. For more information and to order you copy, visit thelasvegasbook.org.