Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling

by David G. Schwartz

Book Overview

Historian David G. Schwartz tells the epic story of gambling, beginning with its early emergence in divination rituals and ending with today's global gaming culture. The book begins with the rolling of knuckle bones in prehistoric times, progresses through the casting of lots portrayed in the Bible and traces gaming through the heights of the Greek and Roman civilisations. It also investigates the invention of playing cards in China, the birth of...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1592402089
• ISBN13: 9781592402083
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Gotham Books
• Length: 570 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.6" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

An Epic Historical Record of Gambling on a Grand Scale. Great Read!!

"Roll the Bones" takes you on a highly informative journey through the history of mankind and tells the story of how gambling has always been a dominate part of all human cultures. From the stone age, through Victorian Europe to glimmering LCD lights of modern Las Vegas. I have read many books on the history gambling but Schwartz, took it to a new level, with the grand scale of a Michener novel. I came away from this book with a clear and truer understanding of not only the history of gambling but how it has effected the human experience, from day to day life, wars, industrial age, rise and falls of governments, economic highs and lows and modern technologies. Roll the Bones not only tells the story of how we have gambled though out history, but in many ways why we gamble in our lives and it is not always in a casino. So please enjoy this book. C E Mitchell

Great writing makes for a wonderful day spent finishing this fascinating book.

I read this book in one afternoon at the UC Berkeley Business Library. ( For some reason the UC Berkeley Library catalogued "Roll the Bones" as a business title while another of his books "Suburban Xanadu" is over in the general collection). I'm planning on buying it because I enjoyed the writing, I'm familiar with the author's writing through his blog about Las Vegas and betting and I trust his scholarship. Most of the general reading type books that cover gambling, Las Vegas the mob town, Las Vegas the latest Babylon etc. go for dazzling the reader with stories about scandals, excess, dissipation and various dramas that go into all kinds of human vice. Roll the Bones is unique because it looks back, very far back to ancient civilizations and very quickly brings those long gone societies to life by uncovering how gambling in various shapes and forms has been present in every culture just like other cultural artifacts such as different art forms, mythology, religion etc. What's so startling about this is how little seems to have been written about the nature of gambling throughout history ( at least for the general reading public - and in historical scholarship - as far as I know ). Past cultures just seem to jump to life reading about the Romans, Chinese, Meso-Americans, the French and Mississippi gamblers and much more. Maybe because gambling has been brought out of the closet in US culture and is no longer illegal or only permitted in outposts like Nevada is it acceptable to look back at other societies and read how gambling was just an entertaining past time that has always had participants. "Rool the Bones" is fun to read because the games that were played in the past are described well and you can almost imagine people still wanting to play them today. Good, informed, entertaining writing here by a genuine historian instead of the usual sort of gambling book written by a journalist. I'm looking forward to checking out David Schwartz's other books, "Suburban Xanadu" and "Cutting the Wire".

Fascinating

An interesting and invaluable history of gaming in all cultures. Not only does Schwartz cover the games that are still popular in today's casinos he covers games that have fallen into obscurity.

Great History of Gambling

Since I like to "roll the bones," I am fascinated by fun historical books on gambling. It seems mankind has been gambling since we were, well, actually rolling the bones. This is a terrific, entertaining book. Frank Scoblete: author of Golden Touch Dice Control Revolution! and Golden Touch Blackjack Revolution!

Easy To Read and Very In Depth - Great Book!

Roll The Bones, is a history of gambling all the way back to an including ancient Mesopotamia. We get a look at the gambling (never 'gaming', always 'gambling' - this was before lobbyists!) habits of cultures including the Greeks, Romans, Chinese, other random Europeans and all the way through Americans. The message I was getting from this book was that gambling is a universal trait that seems to permeate every society, no matter how any of the other attributes stack up. A book like this could easily be so boring as to guarantee a good night's sleep. That's not the case here as Schwartz is a gifted writer who is able to connect and reconcile all of the games across the centuries. I really enjoyed Roll The Bones and I think that anyone who likes history would too. If you are interested in casino gambling, this book will give you some new insight into how it all hangs together. I recommend this book to all readers.