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All In: The Spread of Gambling in Twentieth-Century United States. Edited byJonathan D. Cohen andDavid G. Schwartz. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2018. xii + 284 pp. Tables, notes, index. Paper, $34.95. ISBN: 978-1-943859-60-3.

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uncertainty. The changing use of metaphors provides telling clues about the timing of the probabilistic shift. If Benner in 1876 assimilated price cycles to fully predictable astronomic phenomena, in 1901… Click to show full abstract

uncertainty. The changing use of metaphors provides telling clues about the timing of the probabilistic shift. If Benner in 1876 assimilated price cycles to fully predictable astronomic phenomena, in 1901 the director of the Weather Department, Willis L. Moore, drew a more modest parallel between meteorology and medicine, and in 1914 Evangeline Adams could claim that her role as an astrologer was similar to that of the weather forecaster in providing opportunities, and not certainties, to her customers. The book stimulates further reflections on the emergence of a calculative society. In historical perspective, in fact, “ostensibly objective methods of calculating the future” were “shaped by, and indeed perpetuat[ed], the ideologies, politics, and cultural ideals of their times” (p. 259). As a consequence, these methods expose their users to unexpected surprises, as the author shows in many examples, from the blizzard that hit New York City in March 1888 to the results of the 2016 presidential election.

Keywords: century united; gambling twentieth; states edited; united states; spread gambling; twentieth century

Journal Title: Business History Review
Year Published: 2018

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