Neon Nevada

Description

Sheila Swan and Peter Laufer take readers on a journey, not only along the Las Vegas Strip, but down quiet, two-lane rural roads punctuated occasionally by a neon sign—those glistening beacons that represent civilization in our vast Great Basin. The photographers’ stunning work captures the argon violets, krypton purples, helium golds, and xenon blues that glow amidst the nighttime desert sky. 

The book makes clear that neon is not just a medium for casino advertising. The colorful images of cowboys and cowgirls, animals, desert landscapes, and countless other creative designs all illuminate an aspect of Americana—the neon sign—that helps define Nevada and its businesses, from bars and casinos to hardware stores, restaurants, motels, and theaters that line the streets of the Silver State’s cities and towns, and those rural areas that are barely a blip on the map. With a compelling blend of striking full-color photographs and fascinating historical commentary, the book celebrates an artform that wholly embraces the state’s unique personality. 

First published in 1994, this newly updated and expanded edition of Neon Nevada explores the resurgence of this artform during the last decade, which has resulted in an appreciation of Nevada neon that is not likely to fade. Swan and Laufer’s project, this survey of neon, casts the new edition as a defining source for neon scholars and attracts neon aficionados to what can only be defined as a medium as distinctive and interesting as Nevada itself.

Neon Nevada takes readers and viewers on a literal and pictorial journey not only along the old Las Vegas Strip, but also down quiet two-lane rural roads punctuated occasionally with neon signs, those glistening beacons of civilization against the desert night sky.  Sheila Swan learned photography as an assistant in her father’s California portrait studio. She joined the Nevada Craft Guild shortly after it was founded and there began her study of Nevada’s relationship with neon.
Peter Laufer is the award-winning author of several dozen books. He is a journalism professor at the University of Oregon. Laufer was editor of the Nevada newspaper, the Gold Hill News.