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The Curse: Big Time Gambling Seduction of a Small New England Town
During the 1990s, two Connecticut Indian tribes built the world's two biggest casinos in the southeastern corner of the state, resulting in what has been called a "gambling Chernobyl." The Curse is a novel set against those events. It begins in 1637 with the massacre of the Pequot Indians and a curse delivered by a Pequot sachem to the young English soldier who is about to kill him. The story then jumps 350 years as the soldier's thirteenth-generation descendant, Josh Williams, becomes embroiled in a battle to stop a new-minted Indian tribe from building a third casino that threatens his town and ancestral home. The lure of easy money drives everyone from the tribe's chief to a shadowy Miami billionaire, venal politicians, and Providence mobsters, while a small, quintessential New England town must choose between preserving its character or accepting an extraordinary proposal that will change it forever. As the battle over the casino reaches a climax, Josh discovers startling truths about his family's past - including centuries-old events that appear to be impacting the present with devastating effect. Connecticut author Martin Shapiro (Scroll of Naska) has described the book as "compelling and timely - an epic story of politics, identity and greed that will make you wonder where America is headed." Robert H. Steele is vice chairman of an international retail marketing agency and has been a director of numerous companies. A graduate of Amherst College and Columbia University, he served in the CIA and Congress, and was a candidate for governor of Connecticut. He lives with his wife in Essex, Connecticut.
- GenresFiction
400 pages, paperback and ebook
First published September 20, 2012
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25 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 30, 2013
Having lived through the start of gambling in my state, lotto, casinos, etc., you wouldn’t think a fiction book about the two largest Indian Casinos in the world would catch my attention. Wrong! As a Connecticut resident and New Englander it was interesting to relive the whole story of how these two casinos grew like volcanoes in rural Connecticut. Timely too as our neighboring state, Massachusetts decides where a proposed casino will go.
If you don’t know the background, reading Robert H. Steele’s (former congressman and Essex, CT resident) book might leave you wondering where fact leaves off and fiction begins. Don’t fret as the author’s note and a timeline at the end lay this out quite plainly. It is just this premise, fact woven with fiction that makes The Curse: Big Time Gambling’s seduction of a Small New England Town worth reading.
When the chance to become the CEO of a powerful insurance company leaves Josh Williams, thirty-eight, disillusioned, he decides to uproot his family and head to his hometown, a small town in southeastern Connecticut. He has fond memories of growing up on the family farm and can envision a quality of life that only country living can provide. They settle in and all seems ideal until the late 80’s when the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act is passed. Several Native American Indian Tribes in Connecticut bid for recognition and the right to build a casino. Josh is vehemently opposed to this prospect on many counts. He fears the ills of gambling itself and also the annexation of land, the traffic, the changing landscape that this huge development would cause.
Our book group will be discussing this title with the author next week. I’m curious to hear why the author chose to present the story as fiction when so much is based on actual happenings. There is certainly a lot of room for discussion here. The history of The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Indians, The Indian Wars, the settling of our coastal towns, the ramifications of gambling, the seduction of promise of large amounts of money to the state coffers, the sudden richness of the tribes, the quest to expand gambling with keno in our state, the move of surrounding states to join in the action, all these and more lurked in my brain as I read The Curse. If Robert H. Steele can make each of us examine gambling with his story, he’s done his job.
If you don’t know the background, reading Robert H. Steele’s (former congressman and Essex, CT resident) book might leave you wondering where fact leaves off and fiction begins. Don’t fret as the author’s note and a timeline at the end lay this out quite plainly. It is just this premise, fact woven with fiction that makes The Curse: Big Time Gambling’s seduction of a Small New England Town worth reading.
When the chance to become the CEO of a powerful insurance company leaves Josh Williams, thirty-eight, disillusioned, he decides to uproot his family and head to his hometown, a small town in southeastern Connecticut. He has fond memories of growing up on the family farm and can envision a quality of life that only country living can provide. They settle in and all seems ideal until the late 80’s when the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act is passed. Several Native American Indian Tribes in Connecticut bid for recognition and the right to build a casino. Josh is vehemently opposed to this prospect on many counts. He fears the ills of gambling itself and also the annexation of land, the traffic, the changing landscape that this huge development would cause.
Our book group will be discussing this title with the author next week. I’m curious to hear why the author chose to present the story as fiction when so much is based on actual happenings. There is certainly a lot of room for discussion here. The history of The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Indians, The Indian Wars, the settling of our coastal towns, the ramifications of gambling, the seduction of promise of large amounts of money to the state coffers, the sudden richness of the tribes, the quest to expand gambling with keno in our state, the move of surrounding states to join in the action, all these and more lurked in my brain as I read The Curse. If Robert H. Steele can make each of us examine gambling with his story, he’s done his job.
August 9, 2015
Thinly disguised fictionalization of the story of Ledyard CT and Foxwoods. Non-fiction on this is Jeff Benedict's book Without Reservation: How a Controversial Indian Tribe Rose to Power and Built the World's Largest Casino.
I recommend Mr. Steele's book as a primer for people in a community faced with a casino threat, because all casinos (Indian, commercial or state-run) work alike to exploit people. "Community" really means "state" and "state" really means "nation" and "nation" really means "continent." There are no boundaries to backyards, no limits to expansion and stretching of rules. Illinois now has about 20,000 free-standing electronic gaming devices (AKA slot machines) outside casinos, more than there are inside.
It is important not to confuse the movement to Stop Predatory Gambling with being anti-Indian, though in re Indian casinos the boundary is very blurred and can cause antagonism, charges of racism etc. The Curse is more about the evils of big-time legalized predatory gambling than the machinations of persons who discover their descent from Indians to mobilize an Indian gambling operation. This makes it more generalizable than Mr Benedict's non-fiction work, which traces the latter theme more.
The author is a former Congressman who has recently spoken in public to support groups that resist imposition of commercial casinos by fiat.
Everything in this book is 100% plausible though it is fiction. The writing is more than competent. For most people, this book will be a faster read with a more general message against Predatory state-sponsored gambling than Mr Benedict's powerful non-fiction.
Note: this reviewer is Chairperson of Coalition Against Gambling in New York and a supporter of the national organization Stop Predatory Gambling. BOth are non-profit organizations. I have never accepted money or services from any person, agency or organization on either side of the debate about legalized gambling in America.
I recommend Mr. Steele's book as a primer for people in a community faced with a casino threat, because all casinos (Indian, commercial or state-run) work alike to exploit people. "Community" really means "state" and "state" really means "nation" and "nation" really means "continent." There are no boundaries to backyards, no limits to expansion and stretching of rules. Illinois now has about 20,000 free-standing electronic gaming devices (AKA slot machines) outside casinos, more than there are inside.
It is important not to confuse the movement to Stop Predatory Gambling with being anti-Indian, though in re Indian casinos the boundary is very blurred and can cause antagonism, charges of racism etc. The Curse is more about the evils of big-time legalized predatory gambling than the machinations of persons who discover their descent from Indians to mobilize an Indian gambling operation. This makes it more generalizable than Mr Benedict's non-fiction work, which traces the latter theme more.
The author is a former Congressman who has recently spoken in public to support groups that resist imposition of commercial casinos by fiat.
Everything in this book is 100% plausible though it is fiction. The writing is more than competent. For most people, this book will be a faster read with a more general message against Predatory state-sponsored gambling than Mr Benedict's powerful non-fiction.
Note: this reviewer is Chairperson of Coalition Against Gambling in New York and a supporter of the national organization Stop Predatory Gambling. BOth are non-profit organizations. I have never accepted money or services from any person, agency or organization on either side of the debate about legalized gambling in America.
April 14, 2018
It has been quite awhile that I found a book that I could not put down. I read this book in two days. I purchased the book near where the author resides and he signed the book. I live near the casinos and a history buff. You really feel for the characters present and past. The book was beautifully written.
March 30, 2013
Robert H. Steele has chosen the vehicle of a meticulously researched historical novel to reveal the disruption, social upheaval and human tragedy legal casino gambling can bring to a community.
In “The Curse, Big-Time Gambling’s Seduction of a Small New England Town,” Steele weaves a tale of intrigue, political manipulation, mob influence and murder surrounding the process of establishing a fictional high-end casino in Connecticut.
Although Steele’s story is fiction, it relies heavily on actual events in the 1990s when the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Indian tribes built the two largest casinos in the world within seven miles of each other in southeastern Connecticut: Foxwoods in Ledyard, and The Mohegan Sun in Montville.
The novel is also rich in a fascinating mini-history of the pre-Revolutionary period when New England’s colonists and their Indian allies battled and decimated the Pequots in 1637. The “curse” in the book’s title stems from a Pequot sachem’s pronouncement against a colonist who kills him in battle. It is a descendant of that colonist who is the story’s protagonist, caught up in an ironic, modern-day struggle against a newly created “casino tribe” and its wealthy backers. It is as real as any battle faced by his ancestor on the New England frontier.
A former Connecticut congressman, who left politics for a successful career in business, the author brings to his story an accurate eye toward both the political process that birthed the Indian gaming industry in this country, and the subsequent explosion of both Indian and non-Indian casino gambling across the United States. Because Steele and his wife raised a family in Ledyard while Connecticut’s casino story unfolded, he was a personal witness to how it affected his community and the people around him.
That said, Steele, is not presenting a tirade against casino gambling. Instead he offers up a drama with a steady hand, laced with intriguing history, empathy for America’s Indians, and keen insight into a contemporary issue that is seriously impacting our society and culture. There’s even a current of spice and romance interwoven throughout, which of course doesn’t hurt a fine story like this, at all.
Dean Dexter, Meredith Center, New Hampshire
In “The Curse, Big-Time Gambling’s Seduction of a Small New England Town,” Steele weaves a tale of intrigue, political manipulation, mob influence and murder surrounding the process of establishing a fictional high-end casino in Connecticut.
Although Steele’s story is fiction, it relies heavily on actual events in the 1990s when the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Indian tribes built the two largest casinos in the world within seven miles of each other in southeastern Connecticut: Foxwoods in Ledyard, and The Mohegan Sun in Montville.
The novel is also rich in a fascinating mini-history of the pre-Revolutionary period when New England’s colonists and their Indian allies battled and decimated the Pequots in 1637. The “curse” in the book’s title stems from a Pequot sachem’s pronouncement against a colonist who kills him in battle. It is a descendant of that colonist who is the story’s protagonist, caught up in an ironic, modern-day struggle against a newly created “casino tribe” and its wealthy backers. It is as real as any battle faced by his ancestor on the New England frontier.
A former Connecticut congressman, who left politics for a successful career in business, the author brings to his story an accurate eye toward both the political process that birthed the Indian gaming industry in this country, and the subsequent explosion of both Indian and non-Indian casino gambling across the United States. Because Steele and his wife raised a family in Ledyard while Connecticut’s casino story unfolded, he was a personal witness to how it affected his community and the people around him.
That said, Steele, is not presenting a tirade against casino gambling. Instead he offers up a drama with a steady hand, laced with intriguing history, empathy for America’s Indians, and keen insight into a contemporary issue that is seriously impacting our society and culture. There’s even a current of spice and romance interwoven throughout, which of course doesn’t hurt a fine story like this, at all.
Dean Dexter, Meredith Center, New Hampshire
September 21, 2013
Because Good Reads highest rating for books is 5 stars, I gave "The Curse" by Robert H. Steele a 5 star rating. Actually the book deserves 10 stars!!! In writing this book, "Bob" Steele succeeded in blending both well researched historical and modern day facts with a fictional story so well that the story flows like a quiet undisturbed river. His fictional characters and fictional story line is written in a manner wherein the reader can visualize the characters as their real live neighbors or friends. The reader feels that Ethan Williams of the 1600's, the modern day Josh Williams family (John, Sharon, Matt and Sarah) and the Northern Pequot Tribe really existed. Twists and turns in the story line (especially in Chapter 40) keep the reader glued to the page. I have nothing but high praise for both "Bob's" achievement in creating this literary work and for the book itself!
Submitted by "Mariposa" - a Connecticut reader and book lover
Submitted by "Mariposa" - a Connecticut reader and book lover
June 15, 2013
My husband was introduced to the author as a speaker at a local Rotary meeting. Knowing I love signed books, purchased a copy for me as a present. I picked it up and was pleasantly surprised how interesting and well written it was. The combination of the story of the establishment of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun interspersed with a fictional story of a third casino made for riveting reading. Steele is artful in rendering history along with contemporary plot lines. He has a great command of writing dialog and making his characters believable. Living in the very state where gambling and casinos have become so ingrained in our state, I found Mr. Steele's view of it all as a "Curse" to make you think and believe.
June 7, 2015
"The Curse" is a well woven story about New England history, human nature and the negative effects of the casinos. I appreciated the main character's connection with his ancestors and the family's sacred heirlooms, places and mysteries. The author also accurately represents the addictive grip a casino-culture can have on an economically dependent community. He expertly details, through examples, the process of gambling addiction and gambling culture addiction, and illustrates the disheartening process by which governments, politicians and an entire community can become corrupt pawns of the gaming industry.
February 16, 2019
A poignant and superbly plotted novel about a Connecticut family’s fight to stop a casino that threatens their town and ancestral home. Extremely thought-provoking with strong characters, fascinating history and politics, and twist after turn right up to the surprising end. I particularly liked the theme of the past impacting the present and the intriguing sense of the paranormal created by the interplay between the lead character, Josh Williams, and his 17th century Puritan ancestor, Ethan. First rate.
October 27, 2015
This book was engrossing from the very beginning with Pilgrims and Indians at an uneasy peace. The historical timeline of the casino gambling allowance for Indian Tribes was educational in a paralyzing hindsight kinda way. What a true curse gambling & casinos really were to Connecticut and the small towns. This book combines the history and fictional daily life of a small New England town to form an intriguing tale of lineage and loyalty.
November 6, 2013
An epic story about a family's fight against a casino in which a small New England town faces a Faustian choice between preserving its heritage and accepting an enormously seductive proposal that would change it forever. Superbly plotted with characters and an ending you won't forget. Definitely one of the most memorable novels I've read in some time.
January 10, 2014
The Curse weaves a compelling tale of a historic Connecticut family and its collision with the modern gambling industry. Meticulously researched with a surprise and dramatic conclusion, the novel works on numerous levels-a riveting story, fascinating history, an expose of a growing social problem, an indictment of our political leadership, and a thoughtful exploration of identity in America.
June 8, 2013
Foudn this quite by accident in the library because it is of localinterest (we're in Connecticut. I am absolutely fascinated with the topic so I quickly became captivated. The book is little longer than it needs to be, and the characters a little bit thin. But enjoyable book.
March 6, 2015
Fascinating, part fiction, part non fic. The fictitious family had the twists and turns that made the story interesting and tragic. The factual review of how gambling came to Connecticut I found very interesting......and infuriating
March 14, 2013
Cool the way the book started in the 17th century and ended in the present. I particularly liked how it was set in Connecticut (where I am now).
October 15, 2013
Excellent cautionary tale about Casinos. It was gripping and I couldn't put it down.
October 17, 2013
Interesting information in the book, but I just couldn't get into it...
February 16, 2014
Okay, it's a first novel so we can be a bit less critical.... The story is more of a docudrama than a novel with the story of a train wreck of an American family thrown in for good measure.
March 22, 2013
Excellent book
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews