Ruinopolis: Post-Imperial Theory and Learning from Las Vegas

This essay foregrounds a dimension of Las Vegas that other authors only touch on inpassing: its connections to empire. The authors propose a post-imperial analysis of thecity based on a reconstruction of its history and a reading of the traces of this history inthe city’s architecture and its self-presentation in American popular culture. Thisanalysis of Las Vegas as ruinopolis draws attention to the ruin sites of the city and itshinterland, reading them through the lens of empire. We work out the imperialterritoriality of Las Vegas, including the derelict space of the Las Vegas Paiute IndianColony, the ‘Pentagon Desert’around the city with its so-called ‘national sacrifice zone’,and the Strip, with Caesars Palace. We conclude with a post-imperial reading of Venturi,Scott Brown and Izenour’s canonical Learning from Las Vegas and of the ruin signs ofthe Neon Boneyard.