Narrator affiliation: U.S. Air Force General; Director Military Application, U.S. Atomic Energy

Exterior view of the Flamingo Hotel at sunset. The illuminated champagne tower is visible and a marquee advertising Betty Grable and Harry James is seen in the background.

Dr. Tony Miranda grew up in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara, California. His father was a chef at the Santa Maria Inn, and the rest of the family spent summers picking strawberries in the surrounding fields. He has a sister who earned a degree in psychology from UCLA, and he credits her voracious early reading habits for inspiring him to continue with his education. Dr. Miranda married and worked as a postman for a while, then began taking night school classes in order to obtain his high school diploma. He liked school so much that he continued at Long Beach City College, then Cal State Long Beach to earn his bachelor's degree. He was offered several fellowships and chose SC on a Teacher Corps fellowship. A friend informed him of an NIMH doctoral fellowship at UCLA, and he chose to take it. In 1976, before he finished the doctoral program, Tony applied for a teaching position at UNLV. He was accepted provisionally, meaning he had to complete his doctoral dissertation in one year. He successfully completed his doctorate and was offered a tenured track position. Dr. Miranda taught Introduction to Chicano Literature for a year, and then took a post-doctoral ethnic studies course at UC Santa Barbara. He returned to UNLV to teach, served as faculty senator, and held the position of chair of the anthropology and ethnic studies department from 1993 until 2004. Today he is revising his book on Hispanics of Southern Nevada and teaching three classes. His second wife has been retired since 1995, having spent 16 years with SIIS. When he retires, they will continue to make Las Vegas their home.