Larry Gragg is Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus at Missouri University of Science and Technology where he served as chair of the history and political science department for 17 years.  He has won more than 20 teaching awards including the University of Missouri President’s Award for Outstanding Teaching.  He is the author of ten books including “Bright Light City”:  Las Vegas in Popular Culture (2013); Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel:  The Gangster, the Flamingo, and The Making of Modern Las Vegas (2015); and Becoming America’s Playground:  Las Vegas in the 1950s (2019).

Raised and educated in England, W.R. Wilkerson III graduated from the University of Southern California in 1977. He has authored several books including HOLLYWOOD GODFATHER: The Life & Crimes of Billy Wilkerson, ONE VOTE, ONE PERSON: How Changing Our Voting System Will Get Us Out of the Mess We’re In (2008), The Monk’s Son (2007), Las Vegas: Vintage Graphics from Sin City (2003), and The Man Who Invented Las Vegas (1999). He has contributed to several publications including The Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, USA Today, The Herald Examiner, and The LA Weekly.

Lissa Townsend Rodgers moved from New York City to Las Vegas sometime in the early 21st century. She has been a columnist for the Las Vegas Weekly and editor-at-large at Vegas Seven magazine, as well as writing freelance for publications including New York, Food & Wine and Esquire. She has also given lectures on Las Vegas history and hosted author talks at the Clark County Library. Lissa's book on gangster women, Shameless, will be released by Huntington Press in 2022.