Blood Diamonds

Book Description

Journalist Greg Campbell leads the reader down the international diamond trail of brutality, horror, and profit - providing an on-the-ground and in-the-mines story of global consequence.

First discovered in 1930, the diamonds of Sierra Leone have funded one of the most savage rebel campaigns in modern history. These "blood diamonds" are smuggled out of West Africa and sold to legitimate diamond merchants in London, Antwerp, and New York, often with the complicity of the international diamond industry. Eventually, these very diamonds find their way into the rings and necklaces of brides and spouses the world over.

Blood Diamonds is the gripping tale of how the diamond smuggling works, how the rebel war has effectively destroyed Sierra Leone and its people, and how the policies of the diamond industry - institutionalized in the 1880s by the De Beers cartel - have allowed it to happen. Award-winning journalist Greg Campbell traces the deadly trail of these diamonds, many of which are brought to the world market by fanatical enemies. These repercussions of diamond smuggling are felt far beyond the borders of the poor and war-ridden country of Sierra Leone, and the consequences of overlooking this African tragedy are both shockingly deadly and unquestionably global. Updated with a new epilogue.

Customer Reviews:

Blood Diamonds, Bleeding Heart.......2007-03-21

The author is trying to sensationalize the bloodshed that resulted from the diamond trade in Africa. His allegations that the smugglers or the people who buy the product as jewelry are somehow culpable is unsubstantiated. In any other part of the world, such resources would've been a stabilizing factor that enriched the nation economically, bringing jobs, added tax revenues, better schools, etc. This is really a book about the inability of a populace to police itself and the author's focus on the "guilt" of the West is just bullcrap. The one chapter on Al Qaeda and the diamond trade was interesting but short on concrete facts. This is lousy journalism.

It's ironic how marriage engagements are sealed with other people's blood.......2007-03-12

What? The title doesn't make sense? Did you know how many people suffered to get the diamond on your wife's or fiancé's hand? I don't either, but you can take a guess once you read this book. Come, take a ride to a place where children spend their last breaths in a ditch, sifting dirt and mud for the precious stones. Take a walk with the men that die in jungles while transporting this contraband to another country. Sit down with the monsters who butcher the pregnant women, who cut the arms of teenagers, who kill for pleasure.

This is not fiction, my friend, this is real and it occurs even now as you read this review. And it will continue to occur until the value of diamonds remains artificially inflated by DeBeers' monopoly. But I know, next time an anniversary or marriage comes along, you'll still buy a diamond for your wife or fiancé. What do you care, you don't have to die to buy...

By Simon Cleveland

Blood Diamonds.......2007-01-29

Excellent book. Throughly recommend it. If you haven't seen the film Blood Diamonds then it is useful reading this first

Startling and Effective.......2007-01-24

This is a thoroughly engrossing portrait of the chaos that devastated Sierra Leone throughout the 90's. Campbell weaves the many disparate strands that coalesced to cause this tragedy together into a compelling narrative that is far more readable than anything else I've come across on the topic. The work ultimately has little new to say about solutions to such situations, mostly because it reveals the full complexity behind the conflict and the lack of any clear or easy answer. I was pleased to see in the film Blood Diamond that many of the evocative details from this book had been preserved, making it a powerful, and hopefully very important, movie.

Good, But a Little Sparse.......2005-10-19

This book was not at all what I had expected, in that it features a lot of superfluous personal touch that, in a story that isn't Campbell's, just doesn't belong. I wish that it had contained more statistics and factual research than just tales of his visits to Sierra Leone, with less-than-necessary intervals of fact. However, it was still an interesting read, and I definitely recommend it to someone who's seeking a general outline of the history of blood diamonds.

Blood Diamonds (Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea Novels)

Average customer rating:

Excellent Story!
Excellent Story!
flawless
timely and believable political thriller
Best thriller this year

Blood Diamonds (Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea Novels)
Jon Land
Manufacturer: Forge Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0765302268

Book Description

The West African country of Sierra Leone has long been known as a diamond-rich area. With civil war ripping the heart out of the country, all aspects of life there are unstable. Worst of all, guerrilla rebels, in their lust for the resource-rich land, have sunk to depravity and terrorism to evict people from the country.

It's into this maelstrom of political and emotional turmoil that Ben and Danielle must go. The leader of the rebels, a fanatical and charismatic woman known only as the Dragon, is not content with ravaging her own country. She plans a final coup that will perfect her power and topple Western governments-unless Ben and Danielle can stop her in time.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Story!.......2003-05-16

This book once again has as it's heroes Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea.In this story uncut diamonds(blood diamonds) mined in Sierra Leon are traded with a Russian crime figure for awsome weapons.One of these weapons is called the "Black Death".This
"Black Death" is going to be used by a vicious lady guerilla leader named the Dragon. The Dragon is planning on using this weapon on the United States.You have another character in this
story in the person of contract killer Jim Black.He is a stone killer who leaves a pile of bodies in his wake.This book has more
than it's share of action. It is exciting from start to finish.
You will enjoy this book.

Excellent Story!.......2003-05-16

flawless.......2002-07-11

Blood Diamonds is the fifth book in the Barnea-Kamal series and Providence author Jon Land writes a brilliant tale of intrigue that is a true page-turner. Chief Inspector (Pakad) Danielle Barnea of the Israeli Police teams up with Palestinian Inpector Ben Kamal in a cooperative effort to solve crime. Together they show that there can be cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians and that the two sides may not be so far apart.
Sierra Leone is a diamond-rich nation but an ongoing civil war rocks the country. The instability is made worse by greedy, guerilla rebels who will stop at nothing to get the diamonds and use them to meet their own evil goals. The leader of the rebels is a fanatic named the Dragon who is not content to ravage her country, she plots a coup that will topple Western governments. Ben and Danielle must race against time and numerous obstacles to stop the Dragon.
Ben and Danielle face more than external enemies in this book as each must struggle with internal demons. Land writes, "She had felt nothing for so long it was good to feel even this. Years ago, during her tenure with the Sayeret, it was moments like this that had made her feel the most alive. To do that job you had to accept more than violence; you had to welcome it. After Beirut that had all begun to change, culminating sixteen months ago when pregnancy took away her taste for the very work that defined her. Her own mortality had suddenly become an issue." Her strength is tested even further when she faces an enemy from her past.
Ben also has demons to face as he uncovers pieces of the past and the truth about his father's death. The always colorful Colonel Al-Asi tells Ben, "Your father advocated that the Palestinians make their own peace with the Israelis or risk losing far more than they had already. His was the lone dissenting voice against a violent response."
In Blood Diamonds, Land brings back characters from previous books including Colonel Al-Asi whose loyalty to Ben is unwavering. Ben, Danielle and Colonel Al-Asi are like old friends at this point but just when you think you know them Land throws a few curve balls. The Dragon is not the only new character in Blood Diamonds. She is joined by the deceptive and dangerous assassin Jim Black.
It is the blend of old and new characters along with the unexpected plot twists that make Blood Diamonds a terrific read. Its timeliness reflects the constant changes in the Middle East without getting lost in the politics. Ben and Danielle are strong individuals whose combined strengths are a formidable match for any enemy even one as powerful as The Dragon.
Ben and Danielle are two human beings whose individual struggles do not take away from their strength as a team. Their struggles reflect those faced daily by Israelis and Palestinians, but if like Ben and Danielle they can set aside their differences and work together peace may not be impossible. These characters show us a great deal about ourselves and I look forward to following their exploits with each new book.
If a perfect diamond is flawless and rare, then Blood Diamonds is the literary equivalent of the perfect stone with just the right cut, color, clarity, and carat. As with all of Land's novels Blood Diamonds will leave you yearning for the next one.

timely and believable political thriller.......2002-04-12

It is over a year since the events in New York and it appears that the relationship between detectives Palestinian-American Ben Kamal and Israeli Danielle Barnea is at an end. He is returning to America while she tries to reconcile with the National Police. On an undercover assignment for her old boss, a trap is sprung and Danielle is arrested supposedly for killing her immediate supervisor.

When Ben hears about this, he helps her escape from jail. The pair learns that African diamonds are exchanged for weapons using corrupt Israeli officers as well as Palestinians and the Internet. The United Revolutionary Front in Sierra Leone led by the fanatical Latisse Matabu is determined to unleash weapons of mass destruction on their own people and the United States unless the Palestinian and the Israeli can work together to stop her.

Jon Land authors a timely and believable political thriller that reflects the complexities of the global social and military infrastructure. His characters reflect the times and culture that they live in so when they intermingle, there is always a lot of action. BLOOD DIAMONDS is one of the author's best works to date and it will be interesting to see what will happen to Ben and Danielle in the next installment of the series.

Harriet Klausner

Best thriller this year.......2002-04-11

International thrillers do not get any better than this.

The main plot of this suspenseful novel involves the rebel leader of a group known as the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). They call her the Dragon. This group is trying to overrun the Sierra Leone government. The Dragon's subsequent plan is then to destroy the USA with a secret weapon known as the Black Death (not the Black Death you're familiar with either). Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea, in a most unusual way, get back together in an effort to stop the Dragon and her secret weapon. Of course this is just one of their problems. Old enemies also return.

The story also has numerous subplots that each come together to make this one of the most satisfying thrillers I've read in some time. From the civil war in Sierra Leone to the secret weapons factory in Russia, this novel carries you non-stop from beginning to end. The timely subject of the Middle East also plays a prominent role.

Quote: You do this out of hate for the enemy, not love of the people.

Book Description

The subject of the most ambitious documentary ever produced by the History Channel and AE hey were known as Life Diamonds. Bought by Jews in Eastern Europe, these rough diamonds of the best quality were meant to be a passport to safety and a new life when peril descended. Blood from a Stone tracks forty diamonds from the mines of South Africa through the diamond centers in Amsterdam and Ant-werp to the ghettoes of Eastern Europe. The diamonds pass through the Nazi death camps to Strasbourg, and finally to a foxhole in Alsace on the border between France and Germany. This is the story of those who desired the diamonds, those who died for them, and the two American soldiers who liberated them from the SS, only to bury them. It is the story of the curse believed to lay over these stones, bringing disaster to all who own them. Ultimately, it is the story of Yaron Svoray, who spent more than a decade searching for that foxhole, lost somewhere in a thousand square miles of forest. Blood from a Stone is a tale of fantastic treasure and unbearable tragedy. It is the subject of the most ambitious documentary ever produced by AE and the History Channel, featuring extensive re-creations and authentic historical details, set to air in June 2003.

Customer Reviews:

blood from a stone.......2003-06-19

Blood from a stone is an amazing story that, gives the reader great insight to the mindset of our American fighting soldier during World War II as well as the inner workings of the children and secret workers of the holocaust. There is no doubt that this part of the novel leaves a lingering effect on the reader. The novel provides a large amount of history behind the diamond trade spanning from India to Africa and a fairly good account of the death camps throughout the Third Reich's empire. Bar none the most well written part of the book is Sam Nyer's recollections of his experiences throughout the war, to include, finding the diamonds with his partner Tommy Delion and hiding them. After this, the book becomes a billboard.

A critical reader will notice that the two major diversions from the story read more like an advertisement for Svoray's two other books, than an absolute nessisity(?)to the featured story I found myself under the intense urge to skip ahead--but i didn't, for fear of missing something. The novel reads more like an autobiography of Yaron Svoray than an all-out, hollywoodesque treasure hunt at times, and it borders on killing the readers interest, but the story does prevail.

I bought this book immediatley after watching the special on the History Channel and am very pleased that i did. It is truly the treasure hunt of the 20th century.

blood from a stone.......2003-06-19

I bought this book immediatley after watching the special on the History Channel and am very pleased that i did. It is truly the treasure hunt of the 20th century.

blood from a stone.......2003-06-19

I bought this book immediatley after watching the special on the History Channel and am very pleased that i did. It is truly the treasure hunt of the 20th century.

really good.......2003-06-15

This book is really good and interesting.The first time i read the back i was hooked.I had to know what happened.I also loved the documentary of it on the History channel.Get this book it is worth your time!!

Blood From Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror

Average customer rating:

How about just buying synthetic diamonds?
The diamond trade under scrutiny
Why the "war on terror" won't work is explained.
The Spy Who Loved Them and Left Them
Great, Informative Book

Blood From Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror
Douglas Farah
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0767915623
Release Date: 2004-05-04

Book Description

In the aftermath of 9/11, President Bush froze all terrorist assets in traditional financial institutions and money channels. But Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have long followed a diversification strategy that has rendered the crackdown by the U.S. and other governments almost useless. Blood from Stones is the first book to uncover, through on-the-ground reporting, the interlocking web of commodities, underground transfer systems, charities, and sympathetic bankers that support terrorist activities throughout the world.

As a foreign correspondent and investigative reporter for The Washington Post, Douglas Farah ventured into the dangerous and uncharted world of terrorist financing—a journey that took him across four continents. The information he gathered was far ahead of what U.S. intelligence agencies knew as they scrambled to understand the 9/11 attacks. In unprecedented detail, Farah traces the movement of money from the traffickers of “blood diamonds” in West Africa to the world diamond exchange in Belgium and homegrown money merchants in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Karachi, and Lahore who turn cash into commodities and commodities into cash. He probes charities that siphon off money to pay for such essentials as false identification cards and safe passage for operatives. And he reveals how the funding of terrorist activities is integrated into the age-old hawala network, a trust-based system that has operated for generations across Arabia and Southeast Asia.
Focusing on this critical aspect of the war on terrorism, Blood from Stones not only shows how terrorists are able to orchestrate complex and expensive attacks but also makes it clear why the war will be so difficult to win.

Customer Reviews:

How about just buying synthetic diamonds?.......2007-03-14

I read through most of this book in the bookstore and found it quite disturbing. I'm not qualified to rate the accuracy of the authors claims, however, it wouldn't surprise me if they turn out to be 100% true. Sierra Leone and Liberia have suffered horrific civil wars. I have read other accounts of children being forced to join the army and turned into killing machines. I've also see photos of African children who've had their arms hacked off at the elbows by rebels.

Since almost nothing is made in America anymore I sometimes wonder how much exploitation goes into various sundry items. There's really not much that one person can do about the world's injustices, however, since a diamond is a major purchase it warrants a little investigation. My understanding is that synthetic diamonds are virtually the same quality and cost a fraction of natural ones.

Apparently there is also a lot of blood and destruction involved in gold mining as well, especially in Brazil right now.

The diamond trade under scrutiny.......2007-03-11

Douglas Farah was not the first person to write about the conflict diamond trade but he was the first one to make the US government pay attention. His discovery that Al Qaeda was funneling their dollars for conflict diamonds so that the bush (not the president) wars could continue. This is truly one of the most horrifying operations occurring in the US where what can only be described as evil is profiting on all sides. It is an easy to read book with an important message. For those who want to learn more about the conflict diamond trade and the problems it causes this is a great book to start with.

Why the "war on terror" won't work is explained........2006-01-05

Want to try and understand why the Patriot Act and actions (all belatedly) by the Homestead Security powers will not work in the face of groups that are non-country specific and not driven by personal financial gain (plus can finance their actions on a shoestring based on the examples of 9/11 in New York; Madrid Metro and most recently London on 7/7)? Then this book while written mainly around pre and post 9/11 actions will be an eyeopener being a rare case of a book on investigative journalism delivering more than a scare story and with a real message to consider and debate afterwards.

It is a book of two parts the first being the author's specific bad experience in Western Africa especially in Sierra Leone and Liberia pre and immediately post 9/11. This focusses on showing how use of high value non-monetary goods (diamonds in this case) allowed the use of non-banking arrangements like hawala and charities, to avoid standard intelligence approaches in blocking funds and in the process generate non-traceable routes.

The second part is even more depressing showing how the use since 9/11 of high volume/low financial value per item scams such as baby formula foods and cigarettes avoid detection under old methods of policing since they are too low to attract high level interest, but can ultimately generate millions.

Alongside this the stories told in passing of Russian and Israeli arms dealers cross border activities and endless in fighting between US government agencies over control not result, and the clear message is that the issues are still not fully understood or more critically the manner to detect and tackle yet been mastered and achieved.

The Spy Who Loved Them and Left Them.......2005-12-23

I suppose Mr. Farah is the type of journalist who loves to be loved. In reading twice through Blood From Stones, I felt as if Mr. Farah was pistol whipping me into believing his reporting. The reader has to first believe that all of Mr. Farah's sources and methods are right, air tight, and without question telling the truth. Yet at the same time, the reader has to leave Mr. Farah the luxury of betraying his sources and running to the nearest US Embassy any time he, the journalist, was under threat from the nasty warlord turned president Charles Taylor. Ok, Al Qaida members bought some diamonds and Taylor allowed them to do so. Great, bad thing, I agree.

Several times through the first part of the book, Mr. Farah said this or that guy was his dream source. And if only those bunch of idiots back in Washington: CIA, DIA, State, etc, would listen, they would know that Al Qaida was operating in West Africa. While at the same time, Farah the patriotic journalist, turns over his sources to these same bumbling officials so that the sources can be polygraphed, debriefed, and prodded into turning coat and reporting for the good ole US of A.

There is a lot of truth in Mr. Farah's analysis and work, but I wondered why Farah is so patriotic? His reporting in the Washington Post probably led to some of his sources being strung up in some lonely part of Liberia and Sierra Leone; killed for being outted in one of Farah's editorials or articles. In the book, Mr. Farah runs to the US Embassy in Abidjan and clutches to Embassy security officers as he and his family leave Abidjan under a threat from warlord Taylor. I said to myself, ok, you're a journalist who happens to be a US citizen, why not stick it out with your sources, send your family home, and deal with it. Instead Farah runs to his editors at the Post, with eureka, I have it, from my dusty part of West Africa, Al Qaida.

At the end of the book, I just didn't know what to make of Mr. Farah's story: good information, nice second part on how terrorist networks work, and some good insider stuff on Liberia. But, comme meme, enough of Farah saying that these or those guys got it wrong, and I know better than you. Mr. Farah in the end is a journalist, who publishs stories about bad people, and hopefully someone does something about it. Not a patriotic dupe for the guys back in Washington who are dropping the ball.

Well, with Charles Taylor still back in Nigeria and threatenting to eventually come back to join in Liberia's new democracy and avoid war crimes. I only hope Mr. Farah can use the good analysis and work in this book, and there certainly are good parts in this well written book, to bring pressure in Washington for Taylor to be brought to justice. Not out of patriotism, but out of sheer revolt for what this killer has done. You know, the book was about Al Qaida and using diamonds to finance its operations. If that what US senators and congressmembers need as an excuse to get Taylor, then so be it. Farah makes a good argument for blood diamonds, but what the heck do you think the bumblers in Washington could do about it anyways?

Great, Informative Book.......2005-01-14

This is a fantastic book for everyone interested in Africa, the diamond trade, or the money trail fueling global terrorist activity. The author takes the reader through the many webs of terrorist financing, including key personalities involved in the trade of diamonds and other precious stones. In addition, the author covers several civil wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Congo, which provides a great background to those conflicts. The author traveled extensively throughout Africa and the Middle East to follow the money trail. Farah is an excellent writer who writes in a clear and concise manner. This is an impossible book to put down. Academics and as well as lay people will find this book valuable. In fact, the American people should rush out and buy this book.

Average customer rating:

Blood Diamonds
Philip Saracin
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Blood Diamonds

ASIN: 1588987426
Release Date: 2002-06-28

Product Description

John Ross, a recluse in the mountains of North Carolina, is upsetting the Belgian diamond syndicate by interrupting the flow of precious stones coming illicitly from Sierra Leone. The Belgian merchants are determined to put a stop to his interference permanently. Watch as events starting in West Africa spill over to a beach in Brazil, a river in the heart of France, an obscure port in India and a mountain top in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Read how the best and worst in people surfaces when danger, greed and lust propel their actions.

Average customer rating:

THis book was.........

The Blood Stone
Jamila Gavin
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0374308462
Release Date: 2005-09-29

Book Description

Here is the story of the Ocean of the Moon, a diamond without peer, a "blood stone" that is its owner's passport to a world of spies, deception, and death. In Venice, the jewel promises wealth and prestige to greedy Bernardo Pagliarin. At the court of the Great Mogul in Agra, it holds the key to the throne itself. For Filippo and his family, the stone is worth far more. For thousands of miles, Filippo must carry the priceless diamond as a ransom for his kidnapped father--a father he is too young to know. His treacherous guardian schemes to get his hands on the stone, and those Filippo meets on his way are prepared to kill for it. Always a breath away from disaster, Filippo travels from Venice to Hindustan, but will he be in time to find his father alive?

This seventeenth-century adventure takes us on a dazzling whirlwind journey, over seas and across deserts, into the very heart of danger.

Customer Reviews:

THis book was................2004-03-27

This book was a change for me because i usually read things like Charlie Bone, Faerie Wars, ect but this book was amazing. as soon as i finished i gave it to my best friend. This book is about a young boy filippo, and it doesn't have a precise time but its back b4 cars. But his father is absent, away in Hindostan and everyone outside his family believes him to be dead. But b4 his father left he arranged a marriage, his oldest daughter must marry a slave trader, or else the father wouldn't be able to go. Now this guy is completely evil he uses his wife to spy on her father and his other sons cause a death later on, and he also tries to steal the stone and marry off filippo's sisters who are like 8. But this book is based on a diamond which Filippo's father made it is perfect and is called the moon of the ocean. But this story is full of mystery, death and questions. Filippo is a interesting character with interesting views on life. And you feel what he feels the author has written this very well, and i thought is was a touching book and yes i cried at the end.

Average customer rating:

Peter Telep writes a gem!

The Mercenaries: Blood Diamonds
P. W. Storm
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0060857390
Release Date: 2006-11-28

Book Description

Michael "Mad Dog" Hertzog loved being a soldier. He loved putting his life on the line, feeling that adrenaline rush, traveling to new places, seeing the action. But he grew tired of the red tape of the Marines, the politics, and the danger of having to trust your life to intel developed by CIA spooks who might have hidden agendas. But when he finds a cache of gold and currency inside a cave in Afghanistan, he knows that he might be able to live his dream: being a solider, on his own terms.

Concocting a scheme to get the money out of the country, Mad Dog forms his own private security firm. But "private security" is really just a buzzword for what the company offers: mercenaries. Mad Dog assembles a dream–team of operators from across the military, hard men from the SEALs, Force Recon, the intelligence services, and some places even he can't identify. They are well–trained, elite, and extremely expensive.

But a mercenary requires a war, and their first call is to go to Angola. A diamond company asks Mad Dog to find and recover a cache of stolen gemstones. It is in the middle of a country in chaos, and he needs a man who is dependable as well as lethal. But it gets more complicated. Mad Dog discovers that the CIA suspects someone wants those stones to plan a coup, a development that could destabilize the entire region. So now he has to find the stones while avoiding both revolutionaries and Delta Force commandos sent to stop them.

Customer Reviews:

Peter Telep writes a gem!.......2007-01-04

From jade to diamonds, some of the world's most beautiful gem stones arrive at the gem cutter's table or polisher's wheel tainted with the blood of many handlers. Just how bloody the journey can be from a pit in the ground to Antwerp or Jerusalem is determined by the gem's ultimate purpose. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek financed an entire war with jade. So what can ten or twenty grams of high quality diamond rough do for a al-Qaida-backed terrorist leader on the Angolan border?

Michael "Mad Dog" Hertzog and his highly skilled team of mercenaries is about to find out. Contracted by mining company owners to recover the stolen diamonds, Mad Dog and his team relentlessly pursue the gems through the Angolan jungle engaging shadowy, unknown forces in one fire-fight after another. Meanwhile a terrorist leader and his band is closing in from across the border to intercept the diamonds, finance a coup, and provide his al-Qaida masters with a new stronghold in Africa.

A final battle at the river border separating Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo makes this cache of gem stones the bloodiest diamonds ever!

Peter Telep, writing as P.W. Storm, goes into action with his opening sentence, setting the reader down in the middle of a fire fight in the Afghan mountains, alongside Staff Sgt. Michael "Mad Dog" Hertzog, USMC.

Events in Afghanistan take on a life of their own through an incredible battlefield discovery, betrayal, and a new beginning for Hertzog-- a new start that takes Mad Dog and his team from the Philippines into Angola's unstable geopolitical climate and risky diamond industry.

Blood Diamonds isn't for the faint-hearted. It's a gritty tale full of bloody action and tough language. Readers with prior military experience will appreciate the authenticity of Telep's writing plus catch a glimpse at some of the latest "big boy" toys used by today's military. Telep's at his best when he's out there shooting bad guys and blowing up stationary objects!

Blood Diamonds, like Telep's other military action books, emphatically reflect his deep admiration for our men and women in uniform. Bravo!

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Zulu Victor Bravo
Anthony C Fleischer
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0595397115

Book Description

George Orwell had this to say about themes that touch on the political.

"'Animal Farm' was the first book in which I tried, with full consciousness of what I was doing, to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole ."

This is not a political book but it does ask questions about the nature of tyranny and the role of prophets in our future. Benedict Vilakazi, a Zulu poet, urges his readers to honour their own heritage, to build on what has been built before rather than destroy. He is wary of prophets who seek "believers" as against those "unbelievers who strive to look after themselves". His eternal theme is played out in the bowl of southern Africa, from Black Rock, where turtles still nest on the beach-as they have done for over a million years.

The Sancy Blood Diamond: Power, Greed, and the Cursed History of One of the World's Most Coveted Gems

Average customer rating:

The bloodiest of them all
Fun and easy read

The Sancy Blood Diamond: Power, Greed, and the Cursed History of One of the World's Most Coveted Gems
Susan Ronald
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471436518

Book Description

The fascinating six-hundred-year history of one of the world's most coveted gems and the royal feuds, intrigues, and betrayals it engendered

The Sancy Diamond first came to Europe from India in the fourteenth century, and until 1661 it was the largest white diamond-and the most concentrated and secure form of wealth-in all of Christendom. Alternately believed to impart invincibility to its wearer and to bring ruin to any who owned it, the Sancy cast a seemingly mystical spell over everyone from the king of Portugal to Henry III of France to England's Elizabeth I to Napoleon Bonaparte and Queen Maria Luisa of Spain.

The riveting account of one of the most hotly pursued gems in history, The Sancy Blood Diamond follows its six-century journey from the diamond mines of Golconda to where it now modestly resides at the Louvre, among the remnants of the French crown jewels. In a colorful, fast-paced narrative, historian Susan Ronald describes the often violent passions the Sancy engendered among many of the giants of European history. She also describes the pivotal roles it played on the chessboard of European geopolitics, and how it was used to raise armies, settle national debts, and enhance its owners' power and prestige.

Working from primary sources, Ronald solves, once and for all, the mystery of the Sancy's disappearances in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and she explores the legend of the Sancy curse, which arose after the violent deaths of Burgundy's Charles the Bold, England's Charles I, France's Louis XVI, and other ill-fated owners.

Customer Reviews:

The bloodiest of them all.......2007-04-13

In this historical potboiler, Susan Ronald traces the history of the Sancy Diamond from the mines of Golconda to its current tranquil resting place in The Louvre. As the largest and most famous diamond in Europe from the Fourteenth through the Seventeenth Century, The Sancy had many admirers and several owners; from Charles the Bold through Napoleon, kings, queens, cardinals and dukes, some of them major players on the stage of European history. Ronald does more; she is a knowledgeable political-historian and along the way she weaves the Sancy's chronology into to woof and weft of European political history.

As Ronald shows, The Sancy and by extension other famous gems did more than add luster to the crowns of European Monarchs. Goldsmiths were Europe's first bankers. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that long before the present conflicts in Africa, large and famous gems provided the bloody collateral of choice, pledged by Europe's crowned heads to the financiers who bankrolled Europe's major conflicts.

Ronald's account is authoritative, fast paced and reads like a Machiavellian analysis of history. From the killing fields of Nancy, to Charles I's beheading, to the court of the Sun King, Ronald shows how sex, power and greed as represented by The Sancy, fueled the politics of Europe. The book was published in 1995, don't know how I missed it. The book is particularly relevant given the present interest in conflict diamonds. Highly recommended.

Fun and easy read.......2006-02-05

I found this book to be a very entertaining and fascinating read. It certainly gives the most thorough historical account of this fabulous stone that I have yet come across. The subject is well researched, as the author can place the Sancy for nearly every point in its significant European history. Apart from the few awkward similes involving Saddam Hussein and the tirade against the Louvre at the conclusion, this book is well written and easily comprehended. The reproductions of portraits where the diamond is portrayed were also very helpful in visualizing the various settings of the stone over the centuries. One criticism for the book is that some parts of the `filler history' seem to highlight the author's personal judgments rather than historical events. Nevertheless, readers who find interest in European royal politics as well as those interested in the history of great gems will find this well worth the read.

Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea Series: The Walls of Jericho, Pillars of Solomon, A Walk in the Darkness, Keepers of the Gate, Blood Diamonds, The Blue Widows, The Last Prophecy (Set of 7)

Average customer rating:

Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea Series: The Walls of Jericho, Pillars of Solomon, A Walk in the Darkness, Keepers of the Gate, Blood Diamonds, The Blue Widows, The Last Prophecy (Set of 7)
Jon Land
Manufacturer: Tor/Forge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000NHVLJ4

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