Diamonds Across Time
Diamonds Across Time

Author: Usha R Balakrishnan

Publisher: World Diamond Museum Limited

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 9781838048402

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- Diamonds Across Time features ten essays by scholars in love with the stone - They present new discoveries, explore historic collections, investigate the trade in diamonds, explain the spectrum of colors, and, most important, discuss the human stories that underpin the adoration for diamonds - The book is illustrated with incredible photographs of rarely seen gems and jewels from closely held collections and reconstructions of historical diamonds, done with the help of state-of-the-art computer technology Diamonds tell stories that are captivating and timeless. On the one hand, they are just stones, pieces of pure carbon with optical properties that make them glitter and sparkle like stars. On the other, they are mystical entities hypnotically drawing the viewer into a time machine as it were, wherein a cinematic montage of their journey unfolds. Diamonds Across Time presents a sweeping overview of diamonds across time and space, featuring ten essays by world-renowned scholars in love the stone. Here, these authors present new discoveries; explore extraordinary collections; investigate histories, science, and trade; the nature of diamonds; legendary gems, jewelry collections, and great designers. Above all, they tell the human stories that underpin the adoration of diamonds. Diamonds Across Time is a richly illustrated publication with high-quality images of gems and jewels, archival documents, rare drawings, and fabulous photographs. The volume places diamonds in the context of the time in which they were discovered, and on the political, social, and cultural stage on which their histories were etched. In a rapidly changing world, diamonds are eternal. They were created by nature and grew in the womb of the earth. They tell stories, and they record history. With this book, diamonds will finally have their own storytellers. The book was compiled and edited by the World Diamond Museum's chief curator and world-renowned jewelry expert Dr. Usha R Balakrishnan. She and nine other distinguished authors wrote ten monographs written in the order in appearance: Introduction; The Nizam Diamond: Bala Koh-i-Noor, in the Sacred Trust of the Nizam of Hyderabad - Usha R. Balakrishnan; Diamonds of the French Crown Jewels: Between East and West - François Farges; A Concise History of Diamonds from Borneo - Derek J. Content; Indian Diamonds and the Portuguese Duriing the Rise of the Mughal Empire - Hugo Miguel Crespo; Two Large Diamonds from India - Jack Ogden; The Romanov Diamonds: History of Splendour - Stefano Papi; The Londonderry Jewels, 1819-1959 - Diana Scarisbrick; Dress to Impress in Southeast Asia - René Brus; Powerful Women, Important Diamonds - Ruth Peltason; One in Ten Thousand: The Unique World of Coloured Diamonds - John M. King.

Blood, Sweat and Earth
Blood, Sweat and Earth

Author: Tijl Vanneste

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Published: 2021-12-21

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 1789144353

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A sweeping history of our enduring passion for diamonds—and the exploitative industry that fuels it. Blood, Sweat and Earth is a hard-hitting historical exposé of the diamond industry, focusing on the exploitation of workers and the environment, the monopolization of uncut diamonds, and how little this has changed over time. It describes the use of forced labor and political oppression by Indian sultans, Portuguese colonizers in Brazil, and Western industrialists in many parts of Africa—as well as the hoarding of diamonds to maintain high prices, from the English East India Company to De Beers. While recent discoveries of diamond deposits in Siberia, Canada, and Australia have brought an end to monopolization, the book shows that advances in the production of synthetic diamonds have not yet been able to eradicate the exploitation caused by the world’s unquenchable thirst for sparkle.

The World Until Yesterday
The World Until Yesterday

Author: Jared Diamond

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2012-12-31

Total Pages: 727

ISBN-13: 1101606002

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The bestselling author of Collapse and Guns, Germs and Steel surveys the history of human societies to answer the question: What can we learn from traditional societies that can make the world a better place for all of us? “As he did in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond continues to make us think with his mesmerizing and absorbing new book." Bookpage Most of us take for granted the features of our modern society, from air travel and telecommunications to literacy and obesity. Yet for nearly all of its six million years of existence, human society had none of these things. While the gulf that divides us from our primitive ancestors may seem unbridgeably wide, we can glimpse much of our former lifestyle in those largely traditional societies still or recently in existence. Societies like those of the New Guinea Highlanders remind us that it was only yesterday—in evolutionary time—when everything changed and that we moderns still possess bodies and social practices often better adapted to traditional than to modern conditions.The World Until Yesterday provides a mesmerizing firsthand picture of the human past as it had been for millions of years—a past that has mostly vanished—and considers what the differences between that past and our present mean for our lives today. This is Jared Diamond’s most personal book to date, as he draws extensively from his decades of field work in the Pacific islands, as well as evidence from Inuit, Amazonian Indians, Kalahari San people, and others. Diamond doesn’t romanticize traditional societies—after all, we are shocked by some of their practices—but he finds that their solutions to universal human problems such as child rearing, elder care, dispute resolution, risk, and physical fitness have much to teach us. Provocative, enlightening, and entertaining, The World Until Yesterday is an essential and fascinating read.

Coal to Diamonds: A Memoir
Coal to Diamonds: A Memoir

Author: Beth Ditto

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2012-10-09

Total Pages: 143

ISBN-13: 0385529740

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A raw and surprisingly beautiful coming-of-age memoir, Coal to Diamonds tells the story of Mary Beth Ditto, a girl from rural Arkansas who found her voice. Born and raised in Judsonia, Arkansas—a place where indoor plumbing was a luxury, squirrel was a meal, and sex ed was taught during senior year in high school (long after many girls had gotten pregnant and dropped out) Beth Ditto stood out. Beth was a fat, pro-choice, sexually confused choir nerd with a great voice, an eighties perm, and a Kool Aid dye job. Her single mother worked overtime, which meant Beth and her five siblings were often left to fend for themselves. Beth spent much of her childhood as a transient, shuttling between relatives, caring for a sickly, volatile aunt she nonetheless loved, looking after sisters, brothers, and cousins, and trying to steer clear of her mother’s bad boyfriends. Her punk education began in high school under the tutelage of a group of teens—her second family—who embraced their outsider status and introduced her to safety-pinned clothing, mail-order tapes, queer and fat-positive zines, and any shred of counterculture they could smuggle into Arkansas. With their help, Beth survived high school, a tragic family scandal, and a mental breakdown, and then she got the hell out of Judsonia. She decamped to Olympia, Washington, a late-1990s paradise for Riot Grrrls and punks, and began to cultivate her glamorous, queer, fat, femme image. On a whim—with longtime friends Nathan, a guitarist and musical savant in a polyester suit, and Kathy, a quiet intellectual turned drummer—she formed the band Gossip. She gave up trying to remake her singing voice into the ethereal wisp she thought it should be and instead embraced its full, soulful potential. Gossip gave her that chance, and the raw power of her voice won her and Gossip the attention they deserved. Marked with the frankness, humor, and defiance that have made her an international icon, Beth Ditto’s unapologetic, startlingly direct, and poetic memoir is a hypnotic and inspiring account of a woman coming into her own.

Precious Objects
Precious Objects

Author: Alicia Oltuski

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2011-07-19

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 143917170X

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In the middle of New York City lies a neighborhood where all secrets are valuable, all assets are liquid, and all deals are sealed with a blessing rather than a contract. Welcome to the diamond district. Ninety percent of all diamonds that enter America pass through these few blocks, but the inner workings of this mysterious world are known only to the people who inhabit it. In Precious Objects, twenty-six-year-old journalist Alicia Oltuski, the daughter and granddaughter of diamond dealers, seamlessly blends family narrative with literary reportage to reveal the fascinating secrets of the diamond industry and its madcap characters: an Elvis-impersonating dealer, a duo of diamond-detective brothers, and her own eccentric father. With insight and drama, Oltuski limns her family’s diamond-paved move from communist Siberia to a displaced persons camp in post–World War II Germany to New York’s diamond district, exploring the connections among Jews and the industry, the gem and its lore, and the exotic citizens of this secluded world. Entertaining and illuminating, Precious Objects offers an insider’s look at the history, business, and society behind one of the world’s most coveted natural resources, providing an unforgettable backstage pass to an extraordinary and timeless show.

Blood from a Stone
Blood from a Stone

Author: Richard Hammer

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2015-06-23

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0765386038

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The search for the Life Diamonds--the subject of the compelling documentary produced by the History Channel. They were known as Life Diamonds--rough uncut diamonds of high quality bought by Jews in Eastern Europe to use as passports to safety. After 1939 and the Nazi blitzkrieg, after the extermination camps began belching black smoke into the skies and the railroad station at Auschwitz II-Birkenau became the busiest train station in the world, they became Death Diamonds. Blood from a Stone is the amazing story of forty of those diamonds, of their journey across continents and oceans, from the mines of South Africa to the diamond centers in Antwerp and Amsterdam, to the Jews of Eastern Europe, to the Death Camps. . . and to the two American soldiers who liberated them from the SS, finally, and buried them in a forest in Alsace on the border between France and Germany. It is the story of the curse believed to lie over the fabulous wealth of these stones, bringing death and disaster to all who touched them. It is the story of Yaron Svoray, who spent more than a decade in search of one small foxhole somewhere in a thousand square miles of forest...and of his unbelievable success. Blood from a Stone is a unique story, a story unlike any to come out of World War II. Blood from a Stone will more than over a dozen exclusive photos from the two-hour History Channel documentary.

Diamonds
Diamonds

Author: Renee Newman

Publisher: Firefly Books

Published: 2021-10

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9780228103318

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The beauty and sparkle and mystique of diamonds is unmatched by that of any other gem in the world. Since early times, diamonds have been treasured as good luck charms, remarkable tools and status symbols and have been worn, collected and presented as lavish gifts. Today, diamonds remain among the most sought-after gemstones and continue to hold their value through good times and bad. In Diamonds, author Renée Newman, a graduate gemologist and author of many trade-level handbooks on gemstones, invites the reader on a journey into the fascinating world of diamonds. This lavishly illustrated guide -- which features hundreds of photos, maps and diagrams -- covers everything from mining, cutting and evaluating diamonds to the romantic histories of some of the world's most valuable stones. Diamonds includes chapters on: What a diamond is -- its significance from antiquity to the present day and what it represents from different perspectives The process and history of mining diamonds -- the locations (both modern and historical) as well as the techniques used to mine diamonds The evolution of diamond cutting -- how a diamond is processed and what are the key cuts and shapes to know Diamond jewelry through the ages -- how diamonds have been used in jewelry from pre-Georgian times to today Evaluating and pricing diamonds -- how diamonds are priced based on their many value factors, such as color, carat weight, cut, clarity, and so on Man-made diamonds The remarkable benefits of diamonds. As beautiful as they are precious and as useful as they are decorative, diamonds continue to fascinate and allure. Diamonds will be a welcome guide for anyone who has felt the romance and power of these fascinating gems. It will also be a useful resource for professionals in the jewelry trade.

A Sky of Diamonds
A Sky of Diamonds

Author: Camille Gibbs

Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Published: 2015-02-21

Total Pages: 51

ISBN-13: 1784500933

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When Mia learns that her mother has died, all the colour in her world changes to a dreary grey. She feels guilty, angry, sad and lost (sometimes all at once!), and she doesn't know what to do to feel better. Little by little, with the help of her Dad, Mia learns how to cope with her difficult feelings. Together, they remember her mother by creating memory boxes, and they even get rid of anger by crazily sloshing paints and punching holes in newspapers! In the end, Mia finds her own, very special way of coping. When she feels sad or lonely, she looks up to the stars. Full of practical strategies, this storybook for children aged 5-9 addresses loss, grief and hope. Written from the perspective of Mia who has experienced the sudden death of her mother, it covers the different stages of grief, from initial disbelief, anger and sadness to resolution and hope. The book highlights the importance of giving children the time and space to work through their feelings and provides a host of thoughtful activities to help them cope. It also addresses some of the questions children commonly ask about death. Uniquely illustrated, this book will be an invaluable resource for anyone supporting a grieving child, especially bereavement counsellors, social workers, teachers and other school staff, as well as parents.

Acres of Diamonds
Acres of Diamonds

Author: Russell H. Conwell

Publisher:

Published: 1915

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13:

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Russell H. Conwell Founder Of Temple University Philadelphia.