Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones

By Greg Campbell

Book Overview

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 poorand 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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813342201
• ISBN13: 9780813342207
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Startling and Effective

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.

Never cared for diamonds, now I have a REAL REASON for it

I have always questioned the materialism of friends and family after years and years of seeing DeBeers on Tv, magazines, and newspapers senselessly pounding their marketing into my head. I've never been one to go along with the crowd, and I've met some Sierra Leonians and heard their stories of how they'd escaped. I quote this book whenever someone asks me about the jewelry I wear--the ever-present, "Oh, BUT YOU don't have any diamonds." I refuse to give up my political beliefs (enormously illustrated in this book, take a hint Family and Friends!) in order to wear a shiny piece of carbon. A diamond is forever? So is death, mutilation, bloodshed, and amputation. Mr. Campbell, you've done the entire Western world a great service by exposing all in this book. This is a pulverizing read, impossible to put down. You will never look at the words "engagement ring" and feel the same ever after reading this book.

Diamonds are not a girl's best friend....

I lived in Sierra Leone for quite a number of years and hence had the opportunity to experience what it was like to live sorrounded by poverty and diamonds (the Kono area). Unfortunately for me and my family, security reasons forced us to leave the country in the nineties. Nowadays I live in Madrid, Spain. I'm a doctoral student and my research area is the diamond industry of Sierra Leone and its implications on the underdevelopment of Sierra Leone.Mr. campbell's book has been very valuable to me because of the information it contains (for my disertation) and because it has sadly/happily brought me back to the country that I love most in the world.Thank you Mr Campbell!I strongly recommend the reading of this book.

Exposes the integral role diamonds played in the war

For over ten years Sierra Leone was devastated by civil war, but nothing contributed to its downfall more than the diamond, which funded rebel groups, served as the foundation for attacks and bloodshed, and destroyed the lives of its people. Blood Diamonds exposes the integral role diamonds played in the process of war in the country, creating an eye-opening story of bloodshed in the name of wealth.

Priorities

Do we need a PR firm to boost the value of human life over a diamond? BLOOD DIAMONDS is an amazing book, filled with detail and stark commentary but , more than that, presenting a story of contemporary times in a small African country that most of us didn't know. I thought back to what was happening in my life in 1999 and 2000. I knew a home health aide from Sierra Leone who told me her country was in a civil war, that her relatives could not come or go and that she sent them whatever she could. Blood Diamonds' author Greg Campbell fills in the awful details of her story. We are working on becoming the small world and community some would like to be. Could we contribute by shutting down the Sierra Leone mines, buying their mangoes instead and letting the people there really go to the beach in a place called FREETOWN?What a well-written story; it should touch your heart and soul.