My more than 20 years of professional work as a newspaper reporter, editor, columnist and author have been influenced by several mentors in the field, as well as some of the great writers of the 20th century, including Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, Nelson Algren, John Steinbeck, A.J. Liebling and Tom Wolfe.
I am working on a book about Elvis Presley's Las Vegas years, to be called "The King's Last Stand." Presley's comeback in 1968 was cemented by his long-running engagement in Las Vegas. Las Vegas also played a big role in his untimely demise.
