Ebook: Roll the bones: the history of gambling

Foreword / James McManus -- Prologue : The rainmaker reborn -- pt. 1. The discovery of gambling -- Thoth's gift : the ancient origins of gambling -- The die is cast : from classical to medieval times -- Knaves and kings : cards come into play -- pt. 2. Gambling becomes a science -- Taming Tyche : the science of chance creates professional gambling -- The Ridotto revolution : mercantile gamblers create the casino -- pt. 3. Gambling takes to the sea -- All is on the hazard : The British come to play -- Star-spangled gamblers : the birth of American gambling -- Baiting John Bull : British gambling, 1750-1914 -- pt. 4. Europeans gamble at home and abroad -- Seeking the cure : spa gambling defines Europe -- Flight of the sparrow : gambling, conquest, and colonies -- pt. 5. The United States bets big -- Wild cards : gambling moves west -- Fools of fortune : American gambling becomes urban -- pt. 6. Gambling for fun and profit -- A sunny place for shady people : gambling on the French Riviera -- Wise guys and one-armed bandits : big-city gambling in the twentieth century -- pt. 7. The legitimization of American gambling -- Hard to resist : Nevada becomes America's gambling oasis -- The salvation of sin : is gambling a crime or a virtue? -- A place in the sun : the Strip is born -- pt. 8. Gambling's new prominence -- Runaway American dream : gambling in the public interest -- All in : gambling's global spread -- pt. 9. Into the twenty-first century -- A clockwork volcano : technology and triumph -- The dream : history in perspective.