Atlantic City is a one-of-a-kind place, for better or worse. Founded by Jonathan Pitney, Atlantic City has always had one driving purpose—to snag themselves some tourists. Sometimes they do it by presenting the biggest spectacle you can see outside of a Super Bowl halftime show. Sometimes they do it by offering easy access to illicit thrills; sometimes they just straight-up lie to folks.
It's hard to judge the powers that be for their maneuvers, though. There might be some shady stuff happening at the fringes, but at the core of Atlantic City has always been its hard-working, resilient, and at times, cynical residents. As you'll learn while reading Boardwalk Empire, longtime Atlantic City residents have seen some serious stuff in their lives.
Questions About Visions of Atlantic City
- Does Pitney's dream come true? Why or why not?
- How do residents adapt to their corrupt government? How does this compare and contrast to the way the government adapts to its residents?
- Will legalized gambling save Atlantic City? Why or why not?
- In what ways does the population of Atlantic City change over the course of the book?