Dark Days, Bright Nights

The hundreds of people living in the flood channels of Las Vegas have provided one of the more fascinating and enduring international stories of the past decade. This underground community has received plenty of news coverage and dramatic portrayals by CSI, Criminal Minds, and the Jason Bourne franchise. But the fact that dozens of tunnel dwellers have clawed their way out of the drains and turned their lives around has received far less attention.

Dark Days, Bright Nights is the follow-up to the bestselling Beneath the Neon and shares the harrowing stories of Sin City's most marginalized people, from bottoming out in homelessness to mending relationships with family and adjusting to jobs, housing, and sobriety. These redemption stories cast light on a rarely seen side of Las Vegas and offer a portrait of homelessness and recovery in America. They are the happy, though not Hollywood, endings to the infamous tunnel tale, documented through stark photographs and unflinchingly honest personal accounts.

Matthew O'Brien is a journalist and social worker who has been considered the foremost authority on homelessness in the Las Vegas storm drains for the past fifteen years. In 2009, O'Brien founded Shine a Light, a not-for-project organization that provides food, clothing, housing, and counseling services to those in the drains.