In 1868 Alexander Barrington Irvine's Atlantic City provided a creation story for a burgeoning city that is part romance, part myth, and part sales pitch. Told with humor and imbued with a steadfast belief in the beneficent power of free enterprise, this first history of Atlantic City provides a detailed and entertaining description of the early years, before the arrival of the "fashionable gaming table." Writing under the pseudonym "Carnesworthe," Irvine hoped to provide "a guide as well as a history." The result combines the best of both in what remains a quirky and enjoyable tale.