"Vapor's Casino: Fear and Loathing in Hot Springs" is the story of the first American capital of vice, woven into the lives of the main characters who found themselves at the epicenter of the events of the golden decades, from the 1930s to the 1960s. Hot Springs , on the one hand, was the land of healing waters, Art Deco architecture and America's first national park, and on the other, the site of horse racing and almost a dozen illegal casinos and brothels. Gangsters, gamblers and crooks: they flocked here to make their fortune and hide from the harsh hand of the law. David Hill reveals all the city's cards - from the dark past of racial segregation to organized crime; from the meteoric rise of gambling bosses to their control over ballot stuffing in elections. Filled with the sounds and images of American entertainment—jazz bands and slot machines, savvy auctioneers and costumed comedians—the novel's prose is a fascinating glimpse into a bygone era of American vice.