Isaac Ariail Reed isn’t your ordinary parachute intellectual. A sociology prof at the University of Virginia, he’s fascinated by Las Vegas — he’s writing at least one book about it. But unlike many with the Vegas bug, he visits frequently, has interviewed dozens of culture-shapers, and was delighted that his essay in The Hedgehog Review last fall generated local pushback. “I come from the Jewish dinner table school of conversation,” Reed says. “I tend to thrive on back-and-forth.”
What brings you to our modest little town?
I’m trained in historical sociology, where you ask questions about the major transformations in human life over the last 500 years. And I think there’s something in Las Vegas that is a culmination of some of those transformations. There’s something intense and accelerated about Las Vegas history. Studying that in the archives at UNLV has been fruitful for me, for my understanding of the world in general.
What sort of vantage point on the world does Vegas offer you?
Vegas puts some things at stake in a clear and concrete way that are abstract and under the surface elsewhere. For example, wild changes in architecture right next to each other. Las Vegas puts up the question of what it means to have a bricolage of buildings, to design them quickly, and then destroy them and design new ones — to take wild chances that may not work out.
You’ve invoked the late Dave Hickey, among the most prominent writers about Las Vegas. Who’d win a head-to-head game of Texas hold’em between you two?
I’m gonna say, if this was a metaphorical game, he would definitely win, because he opened a door that I am trying to walk through to see what theories of modernity are on the other side. But I think if it was an actual game, I like my chances. He was a bit of a gambler. I’m not a terrible poker player. So, I think I could take some money.
