Steel Pier, Atlantic City: Showplace of the Nation
by Steve Liebowitz, 2009

For much of the 20th century the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, NJ, was the center of American entertainment on the East Coast. There were big bands, movies, sideshows, acrobats, flag-pole sitters, Frank Sinatra, Miss America -- and throngs of
people lining up to get a seat so they could watch brave horses and riders dive into a pool of water. It was aptly called the ''Showplace of the Nation'' and it was all that and more. This all-in-one entertainment mecca, novel in its day, has never been matched, not even at latter-day theme parks. Where else could you take the entire family for a day and see fortune-telling parakeets, the World of Tomorrow, John Philip Sousa and his band, a bear on a bicycle, World Famous Diving Horses, take a ride below the sea in the Diving Bell, spend the evening in the marine ballroom, and take in a movie -- all for one ticket? It was a colossal offering of escape, popular culture, fun and fantasy. Today, the novelty and innocence of the golden age of the Pier seems a world apart. Yet it was an institution -- a grand treat served up with gusto and cotton candy, a destination not to be missed -- and an empire of grand-thinking impresarios, oddities and glamor that meshed into one cohesive and attainable summer destination. Steel Pier, Atlantic City -- this large-format coffee-table book -- is published in full color and includes 227 historic photographs, illustrations, poster and advertising images. Steel Pier evokes a time when more really was more, a time when there was so much invention, talent and industry that it could only be experienced in one place -- at the edge of the continent, in a city that took its name from a vast ocean, on a great pier reaching out into the sea.

A Boardwalk Story
by J. Louis Yampolsky - 2009

In his first novel, J. Louis Yampolsky evokes the days when Atlantic City was the "Playground of the World"--the home of gilded Arabesque hotels, parades, pageants, and the famous Steel Pier. A Boardwalk Story is a startling debut from a remarkable new voice in American fiction.

1939. The tenth year of the Great Depression in America. Europe teeters on the brink of war. In Atlantic City, New Jersey--a seashore resort town that springs to life every summer--Jack Laurel comes of age.

At 15, Jack's life is turned upside down by an almost magical convergence of people and events. A mysterious boardwalk entertainer inspires a love of literature, a feud with neighborhood bullies escalates, and innocence is lost. Jack stumbles into commodities trading with two men: one a reclusive mystic, the other a charismatic pitchman and mathematical savant. The musings of a boardwalk fortuneteller set the three partners up to reap unimagined profits--but a house of cards is about to come down around them and, with it, the wrath of an iron-fisted crime boss.

Chance of a Lifetime: Nucky Johnson, Skinny D'Amato and How Atlantic City Became the Naughty Queen of Resorts
By Grace Anselmo D'Amato - 2003

A personal history of Atlantic City during its heyday as the nation's center of popular entertainment, Chance of a Lifetime focuses on the decades before and after World War II. This was the city's heyday, when celebrities and tourists flocked to "America's Playground" -- and political corruption, illegal gambling, bootlegging, and prostitution were all sanctioned as part of the Atlantic City experience. As Skinny D'Amato is quoted in the book: "Atlantic City was Las Vegas. This town was wide open." Beginning with the early attractions of the anything-goes resort, the author explores the rise to power of notorious political boss Enoch "Nucky" Johnson. This sets the scene for the rise of entrepreneurial Paul "Skinny" D'Amato and his famed 500 Club -- a venue that encapsulated everything good, bad, and fun about the legendary resort town.

The Boardwalk Jungle
By Ovid Demaris - 1986

How greed, corruption, and the mafia turned Atlantic City into The Boardwalk Jungle.

Acclaimed journalist and author Ovid Demaris, the man who revealed Las Vegas to the world in The Green Felt Jungle, now gives us the shocking true story of how Atlantic City went from seaside haven to Mafia Mecca.

From licensing hearings to wiretapped conversations, from the governor's office to the gaming tables, the author names names and shows us the chilling truth of how greed, money and terror conquered the state. The Boardwalk became a multi-billion dollar capital of crime, as bad if not worse than Las Vegas.

The Last Good Time:
By Jonathan Van Meter - 2003

Skinny D'Amato, the Notorious 500 Club, and the Rise & Fall of Atlantic City.

A richly layered epic, The Last Good Time brings to life a fascinating place and its politics, people, and culture, through the portrait of one of Atlantic City's most famous families - the powerful, flamboyant, sometimes lethal D'Amatos.

Paul "Skinny" D'Amato created and presided over the 500 Club that served as the ultimate back room for some of the great Rat Pack performers - Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Frank Sinatra - as well as other big players in entertainment, politics, sports, and the mob. The Last Good Time is a classic tale of the whiskey-soaked dark side of midcentury American Popular culture.

Atlantic City: 125 Years of Ocean Madness
By Vicki Gold Levi - 1994

This book is an affectionate visit to Atlantic City during the days when it was the most famous resort in the world.

It is album of hundreds of old photographs and knowing text about the piers, boardwalk, hotels, the show business characters, the visiting celebrities, the Misses America that were crowned here and much more.

Atlantic City Then and Now
By Edward Aethur Mauger - 2008

Welcome to Atlantic City, New Jersey, the birthplace of many pop culture phenomena, including Monopoly, the Miss America Pageant, salt-water taffy and The Donald (Trump, that is). Discover the extraordinary history of this glamorous resort town in Atlantic City Then and Now, a new title in the top-selling Then and Now series. • Fascinating then-and-now photographs highlight Atlantic City’s evolution-from its early days as a get-away for Philadelphians, through its decline in the mid-20th century, to its 21st-century incarnation as a gambling and entertainment mecca. • Stroll along the city’s famous Boardwalk! First built in 1870 to keep sand off hotel carpets, the Boardwalk has witnessed tremendous changes. • Check in to some of the Eastern Seaboard’s most extravagant turn-of-the-century hotels like the Traymore, the Marlborough-Blenheim, and the Shelburne. • See how Donald Trump turned swampland into gold, with photographs of the once impoverished Inlet area that now boasts high-end resorts. • Take a spin on the world’s first Ferris wheel, at Missouri and Mississippi Avenues, now the site of the Trump Taj Mahal casino. • Glimpse icons of the past, like Boardwalk Hall, home of the Miss America Pageant and the Chesterfield sign, once the world’s largest electric sign with 27,000 light bulbs.

Atlantic City - Poscard History
By James D. Ristine - 2008

Atlantic City was founded in 1854 and soon became a seaside resort surpassing all others, earning the nickname “Queen of Resorts.” Chronicling the glory of the city from 1900 to 1930, these vintage postcards depict a time when visitors were eager to stroll on a local invention, the boardwalk; frolic on the beach; ride a rolling chair; and buy saltwater taffy. The annual Easter parade and Miss America Pageant became Atlantic City traditions.

Amusement piers offered vaudeville, band concerts, thrill rides, diving horses, fishnet hauls, and more. Visitors stayed in grand hotels, among the largest and finest in the world. Through more than 200 postcard images, the amazing spirit of this historic
resort town is revealed.

Link to: Amazon.com

Live From Atlantic City - A History of the
Miss America Pageant by A.R. Riverol - 1992

The book, "Live from Atlantic City" traces the Pageant's history from its birth as a pseudo-event in 1921 through its emergence as an American popular culture icon.

Although millions watched the Pageant on television each year, "Live from Atlantic City" proposes that
the Pageant was more than just a television show. Long before, after, and, some might argue, in spite of, television coverage, a carnival of beauty ran riot on Atlantic City's famous Boardwalk. With or without
the cameras, bevies of sea nymphs, beach peaches,
and coeds have paraded up and down runways hoping to win a slice of the American Dream.

"Live from Atlantic City" takes the reader to times
and places where no television camera has focused. Drawing upon (and sometimes debating with) primary and secondary sources, the author paints a vivid picture of life in Atlantic City during Pageant Week.