Describes the darker side of the history of Las Vegas and Black Mesa, Arizona, including the relocation of fifteen thousand Navajo to mine coal for cheap electricity for the Vegas Strip and the precipitous drop in the water level of Lake Mead. An epic struggle over land, water, and power is erupting in the American West and the halls of Washington, DC. It began when a 4,000-square-mile area of Arizona desert called Black Mesa was divided between the Hopi and Navajo tribes. To the outside world, it was a land struggle between two fractious Indian tribes; to political insiders and energy corporations, it was a divide-and-conquer play for the 21 billion tons of coal beneath Black Mesa. Today, that coal powers cheap electricity for Los Angeles, a new water aqueduct into Phoenix, and the neon dazzle of Las Vegas. Journalist and historian Judith Nies follows the money and tells us the true story of wealth and water, mendacity, and corruption at the highest levels of business and government. Unreal City shows five cultures colliding--Hopi, Navajo, global energy corporations, Mormons, and US government agencies--resulting in a battle over resources and the future of the West. Nies shows how the struggle over Black Mesa lands is an example of a global phenomenon in which giant transnational corporations have the power to separate indigenous people from their energy-rich lands with the help of host governments. Unreal City explores how and why resources have been taken from native lands, what it means in an era of climate change, and why, in this city divorced from nature, the only thing more powerful than money is water.--From publisher description.

Everyone comes for the money -- Goldwater and the Desert Inn -- The ladies from Black Mesa -- Founding myths-Laughlin -- Gilded age land grabs -- The Indian lawyer -- The Mormon West -- Legal theft -- Learning from Las Vegas -- Chinatown 2 -- The Bechtel family business -- Roberta Blackgoat's world -- Epilogue: who pays for the new American West?