Diamond : a journey to the heart of an obsession / Matthew Hart
- Bib ID:
- 38487
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- Hart, Matthew, 1945-
- Related Online Resources:
-
- Publisher description
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- Contributor biographical information
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- Publisher description
- Description:
-
- New York : Walker & Company, 2001
- p. cm.
- ISBN:
-
- 0802713688
- 9780802713681
- Summary:
-
"On a hot morning in May 1999, three garimpeiros (small-scale miners) found a large pink diamond in the muddy waters of the Abaete River in Brazil, a discovery that captivated the entire diamond trade. Beginning with this dramatic and revealing tale, Matthew Hart embarks on a journey into an obsessive, largely hidden, and utterly fascinating world."
"Although many of the world's most famous stones had already been found, the modern history of diamonds began in 1869 when a native boy in South Africa found a large crystal on a farm, and Hart recreates the dramatic rush that brought Cecil Rhodes, Ernest Oppenheimer, and a diminutive adventurer named Barney Barnato their fortune. The great cartel that arose would not be shaken for more than a century: Then, as Hart chronicles, a sensational race for diamonds erupted in the 1990s in Canada's Northwest Territories, and an audacious, young female geologist, Eira Thomas, against all odds and enormous competition, discovered one of the richest diamond fields in the world near the Arctic Circle."
"Diamonds also have their dark side. "Malfeasance rustles in the background of the diamond world like a snake in dry grass," writes Hart as he documents the relentless and ingenious thievery that pervades the business, and the even more damaging revelations of "war diamonds" financing brutal conflicts in Africa. Who will rule diamonds now and what form the once-secretive business will take are the issues of the day." "By revealing the layers and inner workings of the diamond industry, and the inherent suspense and human drama that sustain it, Matthew Hart has captured the essence of an exotic substance and its world as surely as a diamond captures light: bending it, reflecting it, and returning it in a blaze of color."--BOOK JACKET.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references.
- Subject:
- Diamonds
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 2001
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