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Founded in 1859, Virginia City quickly became world famous for its extraordinary prosperity. Over the next two decades, the mines of “the Richest City on Earth” yielded millions in gold and silver. The newly wealthy built mansions and churches, opera houses and schools, with furniture, fashions, and entertainment imported from Europe and the Far East. Here young Samuel Clemens, reporting for the Territorial Enterprise in 1863, first called himself Mark Twain. At its height Virginia City was a magnet for immigrants and the world leader in technological innovations in mining.
 
The city’s story did not end when the Comstock Lode played out. Beginning in the 1930s, bohemian artists, literati, and tourists were intrigued by this remnant of the Old West. The leader of Manhattan’s café society, Lucius Beebe, moved here and relaunched the Territorial Enterprise in 1950. Television’s most popular western from 1959 to 1973, Bonanza, located its fictional Ponderosa Ranch nearby. In the summer of 1965, a handful of Bay Area musicians, including Big Brother and the Holding Company, performed at the Red Dog Saloon and launched psychedelic rock, part of the inspiration for a defining decade of youth culture. Today it is both a National Historic Landmark District and a living community. Visitors come to enjoy its saloons and restaurants, admire its architecture, and learn from its museums and exhibits. A Short History of Virginia City will enhance their experience and will also be enjoyed by anyone interested in the history of Nevada, mining, and the Old West.

• Includes an illustrated walking tour describing more than thirty buildings and sites

When it comes to Nevada history, men get most of the ink. Comstock Women is a collection of 14 historical studies that helps to rectify that reality. The authors of these essays, who include some of Nevada’s most prominent historians, demographers, and archaeologists, explore such topics as women and politics, jobs, and ethnic groups. Their work goes far in refuting the exaggerated popular images of women in early mining towns as dance hall girls or prostitutes. Relying primarily on newspapers, court decisions, census records, as well as sparse personal diaries and records left by the woman, the essayists have resurrected the lives of the women who lived on the Comstock during the boom years.

From Storey County's High Victorian Italianate-styled courthouse to Lander County's former schoolhouse, now a Neo-classical courthouse, Temples of Justice provides an architectural history of the courthouses of Nevada. In Nevada's first published architectural history, Temples of Justice treats the state's buildings as a series of documents from the past. Presented collectively the courthouses illustrate the choices and influences that have affected Nevada's communities as the citizens have sought to project an image of themselves and their aspirations through public architecture. The courthouses are important local public facilities, and they provide an excellent opportunity to understand the history of attitudes and tastes in the state. 

When brothers Ethan and Hosea Grosh left Pennsylvania in 1849, they joined throngs of men from all over the world intent on finding a fortune in the California Gold Rush. Their search for wealth took them from San Francisco into the gold country and then over the Sierra into Nevada’s Gold Canyon, where they placer-mined for gold and discovered a deposit of silver. The letters they sent back to their family offer vivid commentaries on the turbulent western frontier, the diverse society of the Gold Rush camps, and the heartbreaking labor and frustration of mining. Their lively descriptions of Gold Canyon provide one of the earliest accounts of life in what would soon become the fabulously wealthy Comstock Mining District.

The Groshes’ letters are rich in color and important historical details. Generously annotated and with an introduction that provides a context for the brothers’ career and the setting in which they tried to make their fortune, these documents powerfully depict the often harsh realities of Gold Rush life and society.

Nevada’s relatively brief history has been nonetheless remarkably eventful. From the activities of the first Euro-American explorers to the booms and busts of the mining industry, from the struggles and artistry of the Native Americans to the establishment of liberal divorce laws and such unique industries as legalized gambling and prostitution, from Cold War atomic tests to the civil rights movement, from the arrival of a diverse and rapidly growing urban population to the Sagebrush Rebellion, Nevada has played a part in the nation’s development while following its own ruggedly independent path. In Uncovering Nevada’s Past, historians John B. Reid and Ronald M. James have collected more than fifty major documents and visual images—some never before published—that define Nevada’s colorful and complex development. Here are the words of such literary luminaries as Mark Twain, Sarah Winnemucca, and Arthur Miller; anonymous newspaper articles; public documents including Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation of Nevada statehood and the probate records of murdered Virginia City prostitute Julia Bulette; personal letters; political speeches; and personal accounts of, among other subjects, the construction of Hoover Dam, life in a mining boomtown, racial segregation in Las Vegas, political careers, and atomic testing. Images include photographs of significant Nevada architecture, the masterpieces of renowned Paiute basketmaker Dat-so-la-lee, tree carvings by Basque sheepherders, and tourism promotions. The collection ranges from the earliest descriptions of the region to the current debate on Yucca Mountain. The volume editors have provided an introduction and headnotes that set the documents into their historical and social context. Uncovering Nevada’s Past is a vital, enlightening record of Nevada’s history—in the words of the people who lived and made it—that makes for lively and engaging reading.