KNPR public radio listeners in Las Vegas are familiar with William Thompson's colorful metaphors and uninhibited expressions of opinion. Now 30 commentaries from the UNLV professor of public administration have been collected into Parables from (A Not Quite) Paradise, NV 89154. The essays – which he hopes "occasionally irritate and arouse ire" – frequently focus on his specialty, gaming, but also cover such divergent topics as Las Vegas growth issues, nuclear waste, and Runnin' Rebel basketball.

If you like his parables, you may also like his verse in Heart Lines and Lyrics, from Billy Gamble and Friends, written over some 43 years with friend Anthony J. Juliano. Billy Gamble is Thompson's alter ego.

And if you hunger for more of Thompson's iconoclastic way of looking at life, try the third book he published last year, Over the Top, Solutions to the Sisyphus Dilemmas of Life, written with former student Bradley L. Kenny. He describes Over the Top as a self-help book for managers, but he offers lessons for anyone who feels that life consists of "pushing big rocks up a mountain, only to see them roll back down again … over and over."

Another small treasure representing the author's personal sensibilities is Desert Seasons: A Year in the Mojave. Ruth K. A. Devlin, '88 BA Elementary Education and '96 MS Curriculum and Instruction, has coupled her observations and illustrations of the Mojave Desert with photographs by UNLV elementary education professor Frank Serafini to create a book intended for young people, but suitable for a coffee table belonging to readers of any age. The publisher is Stephens Press of Las Vegas, which took particular care with Serafini's color photographs of sand dunes, cactus, and other Mojave images.

The two met when the professor visited a seminar on English language learning that Devlin was teaching. Both are dedicated to literacy programs and, while talking prior to class, discovered another mutual interest: the Mojave Desert. Devlin has known the Mojave for 23 years; Serafini is a new arrival.

Serafini has, however, photographed northern Arizona and southern Utah for the past decade, and has contributed to a number of travel magazines. "It keeps me balanced," he says of his photography, which is an extension of his hiking and traveling.

Noting that many photos in the book are of Red Rock Canyon, he says, "I had been up there many times, but never got a picture I liked. Then one cloudy morning, I went out there and the lighting was perfect. About eight photos in the book are from that single morning." When not enjoying the desert, Devlin is a second-grade English language learning specialist at the Paradise Professional Development School on the UNLV campus.

Another alum writing about the land in which he lives, but following a historical theme, is H. Lee Barnes, '89 BA English. His novel, The Lucky, focuses on several generations of Las Vegans, including casino owner Willy Bobbins, who represents the self made casino moguls of yesteryear. "Without the Benny Binions and Sam Boyds in real life, fictional characters of that scope would seem too fantastic to believe," Barnes said, adding that a recent reviewer (new to Las Vegas) said exactly that about Willy Bobbins. "Too bad the reviewer never met Benny over a bowl of chili and listened to the stories."

Barnes did have the chili-and-stories opportunity in 1970, when Binion auditioned him for a dealing job. "I'd practiced exactly one day and made a mess of the audition.When I came off the game, he greeted me with a sardonic smile, called me ‘son,' and said that some people don't pick it up right away."

Writing is one thing that the Community College of Southern Nevada teacher seems to have picked up without difficulty. At UNLV he studied under novelist Richard Wiley and graduated as the outstanding senior in what was then the College of Arts and Letters. He went on to earn a master of fine arts degree in creative writing at Arizona State University. He has published Gunning for Ho and Dummy Up and Deal. His Talk to Me, James Dean is a collection of short stories published last fall, and he currently has three works of fiction and non-fiction in various stages of progress.

And although he didn't pass muster with Benny Binion, he has since worked as a dealer in Las Vegas.

If you've been waiting for technology to catch up with book publishing and will be thrilled to read your history on a computer screen, this is your opportunity. The Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia University selected Brown's book for its "Gutenberg-e" series of monographs in history. Thanks to the wonders of technology, the online version offers enhancements not available in the print version, including 43 images, an archive of 17 primary source documents, a glossary, and more than 75 hyperlinks to relevant web resources.

Brown, an assistant professor of history at UNLV, studied the royal theater as a way to examine Enlightenment thought and the role of writers in the 18th century. "Theater was by far the most important and popular cultural form of the day and also the one in which the most money, prestige, and audience was to be found for a prospective author."

The extensive archives of the French national theater, the Comedie Francaise, are usually studied to help contemporary producers create authentic productions of historical plays, but Brown found in its collection a wealth of correspondence and records for his project. "Letters gave me insights into the hopes, glories, and failures of 18th century playwrights."

Brown reviewed documents from the family vaults of Pierre- Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, best known for his Marriage of Figaro (on which Mozart's opera is based). The writings included the pleas for a chance to read new works to the theater's actors and explanations from the actors about whether to accept a work into the repertory.

The 1770s playwrights often had to wait several years after acceptance before their plays were produced. Brown found detailed information about how they pushed to shorten that time period and to get paid according to a fixed formula, rather than on an ad hoc basis.

UNLV political scientist John P. Tuman used the automobile industry as the focal point for his study of the politics of economic reform in Mexico. "The process of economic reform has had important implications for organized labor, a traditional political constituency of the (former) ruling party in Mexico," Tuman says, adding that it has been unclear "why some unions have been willing to support economic restructuring and trade liberalization, while other unions have resisted. The Mexican automobile industry provided an excellent case study because of its ongoing importance in process of North American economic integration."

In a classic case of scholarly research informing teaching, Tuman says he uses his research in courses on international political economy, comparative politics, and Latin American politics. Students are interested particularly in learning about Mexico's economic performance since implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994. Tuman draws upon data from the auto industry and other sectors to illustrate recent trends in the Mexican economy.

"It was interesting to find out that some very popular cars sold in the U.S. and North America, such as Daimler-Chrysler's PT Cruiser, are manufactured exclusively in Mexico," he says. "When I mention that fact to students, they are often surprised."

If gazing at the beautiful pictures in this art book inspire you, you can visit Temple Beth Sholom in Las Vegas to see the windows in real life.

The author's stained-glass windows are in full, vibrant color in this oversized bound volume or in 10-feet-by-2-feet stained glass in Temple Beth Sholom. Emeritus art professor Rita Deanin Abbey explains that the old Temple Beth Sholom featured a 20-by-40-foot resin and fiberglass wall-lit mural that she had designed and that the architects had planned to move to the new sanctuary, but the best-laid plans went awry, and the congregation sought a new work from her. The 16 windows on the east and north walls of the temple are the result.

Although designed in Las Vegas, the windows were cut and assembled in Portland, Ore. The book was printed in Los Angeles. For both projects, Abbey says, she appreciated the understanding craftsmen who dealt with her demands to get the colors just right.

It was particularly hard working in Oregon. "I was not used to Oregon's clouds," she recalls. "The factory was dark and it was hard to get the colors the way I wanted." She used 80 different colors of glass, far more than the 28 that are typically incorporated in the windows of medieval cathedrals. In addition, the colors in the book had to reflect accurately the colors of the glass. "I was lucky to be able to work with a printing company that was understanding about my need to get the color just right." She asked for – and got – some 7,000 color proofs from the accommodating printer, equivalent to one for each piece of glass in the windows.

Abbey, who was on the faculty at UNLV for 23 years, describes the creation of the windows as both an artistic and a spiritual experience. In the artist's statement in the book, she says, "The intention of the lyrical flow of energy in the windows was meant to create an interior environment emphasizing light, joy, spiritual reflection, and growth.With these concepts as my guide, I selected quotations from the book of Isaiah for their promises of sanctuary and rebirth."