About this item
Highlights
- An outrageous tale of fast cash, pretty women, dirty politics and extravagant greed in the Bayou StateLouisiana is our most exotic state.
- About the Author: Tyler Bridges is a reporter for The Miami Herald, where he was part of a team that won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.
- 432 Pages
- History, United States
Description
About the Book
Louisiana is populated by Cajuns, Creoles, rednecks, and bible-thumpers. Louisiana is also excessively corrupt. "Bad Bet on the Bayou" tells what happened when a corrupt industry came to a corrupt state.Book Synopsis
An outrageous tale of fast cash, pretty women, dirty politics and extravagant greed in the Bayou State
Louisiana is our most exotic state. It is religious and roguish, a place populated by Cajuns, Creoles, Rednecks, and Bible-thumpers. It is a state that loves good food, good music, and good times. Laissez les bons temps rouler -- let the good times roll -- is the unofficial motto. Louisiana is also excessively corrupt.
In the 1990s, it plunged headlong into legalized gambling, authorizing more games of chance than any other state. Leading the charge was Governor Edwin Edwards, who for years had flaunted his fondness for cold cash and high-stakes gambling, and who had used his razor-sharp mind and catlike reflexes to stay one step ahead of the law. Gambling, Edwin Edwards, and Louisiana's political culture would prove to be a combustible mix.
Bad Bet on the Bayou tells the story of what happened when the most corrupt industry came to our most corrupt state. It is a sweeping morality tale about commerce, politics, and what happens when the law catches up to our most basic human desires and frailties.
Review Quotes
"Impeccably reported and often hilarious." --The Economist
"Bridges is a formidable reporter . . . astonishing." --Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World
About the Author
Tyler Bridges is a reporter for The Miami Herald, where he was part of a team that won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. He covered the legalization of gambling in Louisiana as a reporter for The Times-Picayune of New Orleans. He is the author of The Rise of David Duke.
