The book is the first comprehensive documented study of Jews in Nevada from 1850 to the present. It details their involvement in the development and fostering of the state's earliest settlements and its social and political institutions. Among the themes are: antisemitism, Jewish participation in civil rights initiatives, and the explosive growth of Jewry in the Las Vegas metropolitan area along with the development of an expanding Jewish cultural infrastructure. It includes victimized peddlers and modern millionaires, heroines and exploiters, underworld figures and philanthropists, as well as the religiously observant and secular.

John P. Marschall is professor emeritus of history at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has published widely on the history of religion in the United States.