For 18 years Las Vegans have enjoyed small helpings of their own rich history, served up by public radio station KNPR. Hearing well-told tales of characters with names like “Whiskey Pete,” and the comic-opera romance between a famous female evangelist and and a boyfriend called “Whataman,” many a listener has wished for a transcript. This book fulfills that wish, presenting more than 100 selected mostly by the program's original author, historian Frank Wright.

Wright mined the pits and pockets of local lore for nuggets little-known to the public, misunderstood by most, or merely enough fun to be worth telling once more. After Wright's death in 2003, his friend and fellow historian, Dr. Michael Green, took over writing the series, which is voiced by Nevada's former U.S. senator and governor, Richard Bryan, on KNPR's news frequency, 88.9 FM.

Newcomers to the world-class city that is Las Vegas today may be unaware that a mere middle-aged lifetime ago, it was still a fairly typical Western small town where most people made their livings in agriculture, mining, the military, or working for the railroad. Newspapers might be delivered by horseback and minor league baseball was major news. When news ran short, Wright reveals, local editors sometimes made up stories, like the nude but evasive Eve of Paradise Valley.

In those days Las Vegas wasn't fancy, but it was fun, and Wright makes it live again.