In this autobiographical memoir, Ron Coury recounts his childhood in Brooklyn in the 1960s, his short stint in the U.S. Marines in the early 70s, and his subsequent career as a businessman in Las Vegas. While many entrepreneurs choose a path and stick with it, Coury instead seized upon whatever came his way in Las Vegas, from silk screen printing, blackjack dealing, and limo services to car washes, real estate sales, and tavern ownership. Teaming up with a variety of partners and overcoming a plethora of obstacles, Coury enjoyed success, suffered through failure, and kept on exhibiting the trait that became his book’s title: tenacity.

Grab your popcorn when you read this book, because it’ll entertain you like a caper movie. Along the way, you’ll learn interesting details about the Nevada Gaming Commission, the court system, municipal government, and Las Vegas law enforcement. Coury’s escapades are a personal trip through the seventies to the present, the decades during which Las Vegas grew from a little dusty western town to a major metropolis. And if you’re wondering about the mob, you’ll get a bit of that, too.

It’s not surprising that Coury chose to fictionalize some names and places in his stories. He pulls no punches in his descriptions of corrupt city officials, dishonest judges, and thieving employees. He may never have seen military combat, but he makes it clear that he learned how to live his life from his service in the Marines. This is a guy who does not go down without a fight.

So if you’re interested in an intimate look at one man’s entrepreneurial journey through Las Vegas’s adolescence, this is a book to consider. It is also a fighter’s counterpunch, a final act of, well, call it tenacity, from an author seeking to settle a score.

Tenacity by Ron Coury is available in hardcover and paperback.