History professor Eugene Moehring is a longtime student of the urban phenomenon. He is the author of several books on the subject, including Public Works and the Patterns of Urban Real Estate Growth in Manhattan, 1835-1894.

"I've always been interested in how an urban environment differs from its rural counterpart," says the transplanted New Yorker. "In school I learned that even in the 1700s, when over 90 percent of the U.S. population lived in rural areas, it was the cities that pushed the American Revolution and passage of the U.S. Constitution. I wondered why, despite their relatively small size, the cities played such a leadership role in the process of national development."

In his Urbanism and Empire in the Far West, Moehring uncovers the development contributions of seven cities on the Western Frontier. He investigates the influence of the railroads, investment, boosterism, and interactions with Native Americans, as well as the West's relationship with water.

Author of Resort City in the Sunbelt, Moehring continues his study of Las Vegas with a 300-page book for the city's 100th anniversary celebration in 2005: A Centennial History of Las Vegas, co-authored with Community College of Southern Nevada professor Michael Green. He also has begun research on a history of UNLV for its 50th anniversary celebration in 2007.