Michael Green

Professor and Chair, History
Expertise: Nevada, Gaming, Civil War Era, Politics

Biography

Michael Green is a professor of history at UNLV and teaches classes for both the history department and the Honors College. His courses range throughout U.S. history, but his teaching and research particularly focus on Las Vegas and Nevada history, the Civil War era and Abraham Lincoln, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

He is the author of Nevada: A History of the Silver State and co-author of Las Vegas:  A Centennial History, among other books and articles about Nevada. He has published three books on the Civil War era, including Lincoln and the Election of 1860 and Politics and America in Crisis: The Coming of the Civil War. He writes "Nevada Yesterdays," read by former U.S. Senator Richard Bryan, for KNPR and Nevada Humanities. A former journalist, he has served as a columnist for Nevada's Washington Watch and Vegas Seven. He is a member of the board of directors for The Mob Museum, for which he was one of the researchers.

 

Education

  • Ph.D., Columbia University
  • M.A., University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  • B.A., University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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Michael Green In The News

K.N.P.R. News
How to describe Sammy Davis, Jr., in just a few words? Maybe the best way came from the mother of the historian who writes this program. His parents got married in Las Vegas in 1964. They stayed at the Sahara, where Tony Bennett was in the showroom, but they went down the street to see Sammy at the Sands. He asked his mother if they saw another show. She replied, “Once you’ve seen Sammy Davis, Jr., you don’t need to see another show.”
K.N.P.R. News
Sammy Davis, Jr. was a true giant of entertainment. For nearly half a century, he was a Las Vegas fixture.
Las Vegas Review Journal
On a fall night in 1982, mob figure Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal was almost blown up outside a Tony Roma’s in Las Vegas – a harrowing attack portrayed in the opening scene of “Casino.” More than 40 years after the infamous car bombing, the Tony Roma’s building is home to a sex-toy shop, and a neighboring former Marie Callender’s is boarded-up. Now the plaza itself where Rosenthal was nearly killed in a suspected mob hit has been sold.  
K.N.P.R. News
No Nevadan affected his state more in the 20th century than Pat McCarran. He was Nevada's first native born United States Senator. Raised on his family sheep ranch outside of Reno. He entered politics in 1902 as a Democratic candidate for the assembly at the age of 26. His support came from forces trying to elect another Nevada's powerful politician, Francis Newlands to the United States Senate.

Articles Featuring Michael Green

Some early studying during the opening week of the Spring 2026 semester (Josh Hawkins/UNLV).
| February 3, 2026

A look at some of the most eye-grabbing headlines featuring UNLV faculty, staff, and students.

Fall colors 2025
| November 10, 2025

Some of the biggest news headlines featuring UNLV faculty and students.