My Life in Nevada Politics tells the entertaining, informative, and at times poignant story of the rise of Richard Bryan from humble beginnings in Las Vegas to the pinnacle of Nevada politics during a time of great change across the state and nation. Through his memoir, Bryan provides keen insight into the mechanics of politics, and the book serves as a must-read for anyone interested in the history of the Silver State.

Born in Washington, D.C. in 1937, Bryan grew up in Las Vegas. His interest in politics started early, winning school-class elections and expressing a personal goal of one day becoming Governor of Nevada. He was elected student body president at the University of Nevada.

His career in public service began as a deputy district attorney in Clark County. In 1966, he became the first county public defender in state history. Bryan served in the Nevada Legislature in both the Assembly and Senate before winning the statewide office of Attorney General in 1978. He was elected Nevada Governor in 1982, winning re-election in 1986. Bryan was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1988, reelected in 1994, and served on the committees on Commerce, Banking, Taxation, and Intelligence, and chaired the Ethics Committee. He retired from the Senate in 2001 and returned to Nevada.

Bryan’s list of accomplishments is extensive. He was largely responsible for the early call-to-arms in the fight against the Department of Energy’s attempt to create a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. As governor, he reorganized state economic development programs, improved environmental protections for Lake Tahoe and other threatened areas, and made unprecedented appointments of women. In the Senate, Bryan authored the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act and the National Conservation Area for the High Rock Desert country. He had a front-row seat to the historic buildup to the Iraq War and the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. In retirement, Bryan continues to serve the state through his participation on a wide range of committees. 

Throughout his political career, Bryan, with wife Bonnie at his side, traversed Nevada from its tiniest hamlets to the metro areas of Reno and Las Vegas with unrivaled zeal in his efforts to represent the state’s citizens. He is famous for knowing thousands of his constituents not only by their first names, but also recalling details of their lives. The simple fact is, while in service to Nevada, Bryan was in his element in the place he loves best.

Listed as one of the Reno News & Review's "New Books from Nevada Authors," December 29, 2021

The grazing rights battle between Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the federal government, resulting in a tense, armed standoff between Bundy’s supporters and federal law enforcement officers, garnered international media attention in 2014. Saints, Sinners, and Sovereign Citizens places the Bundy conflict into the larger context of the Sagebrush Rebellion and the long struggle over the use of federal public lands in the American West. 

Author John L. Smith skillfully captures the drama of the Bundy legal tangle amid the current political climate. Although no shots were fired during the standoff itself, just weeks later self-proclaimed Bundy supporters murdered two Las Vegas police officers and a civilian. In Eastern Oregon, other Bundy supporters occupied the federal offices of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, and one of them died in a hail of bullets.

While examining the complex history of federal public land policies, Smith exposes both sides of this story. He shows that there are passionate true believers on opposite sides of the insurrection, along with government agents and politicians in Washington complicit in efforts to control public lands for their wealthy allies and campaign contributors. With the promise of billions of dollars in natural resource profits and vast tracts of environmentally sensitive lands hanging in the balance, the West’s latest range war is the most important in the nation’s history. This masterful exposé raises serious questions about the fate of America’s public lands and the vehement arguments that are framing the debate from all sides.

A Wall Street Journal Spring Books 2024 Selection: “What to Read This Spring”

An Extraordinary Portrait of America’s Beloved Female Founder and First Lady
Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, was an eyewitness to America’s founding, and helped guide the new nation through her observations and advice to her famously prickly husband, who cherished her. She met many important and significant figures of the period: George Washington and his wife Martha, Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Knox, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, John Jay, Marquis de Lafayette, John Paul Jones, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe, artist Patience Wright, and even King George III and Queen Charlotte of England, as well as King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette of France. In The Unexpected Abigail Adams: A Woman “Not Apt to Be Intimidated”, writer and researcher John L. Smith, Jr., draws on more than two thousand letters of Abigail’s spanning from the 1760s to her death in 1818, interweaving Abigail’s colorful correspondence—some of which has not appeared in print before—with a contextual narrative. In this priceless documentation of one of the most important periods of world history she comments on the varied personalities she encountered and, while her husband was away from home serving in the Continental Congresses and as a diplomatic envoy in Europe, she wrote him frequently about their home in Massachusetts, their family, national and local politics, and, during the early years of the war, crucial information concerning revolutionary activities around Boston. She was an advocate for education for women, a shrewd businesswoman, and had an unrivaled political acumen. Her strength in the face of disease, loss of children, and other hardships, and her poignant, beautiful, and often philosophical commentary, advice, and predictions allow Abigail to demonstrate her fully modern sensibilities. This major biography of Abigail, the first in over ten years, is a riveting, revealing portrait of a remarkable woman that readers will find very relatable—and one that transforms how she is perceived.