Rachelle Bergstein's Brilliance and Fire: A Biography of Diamonds PDF

By Rachelle Bergstein

ISBN-10: 0062323776

ISBN-13: 9780062323774

ISBN-10: 0062323784

ISBN-13: 9780062323781

ISBN-10: 1515909646

ISBN-13: 9781515909644

From the writer of Women from the Ankle Down comes a full of life cultural biography of diamonds, which explores our society’s obsession with the world’s such a lot exceptional gemstone and the real-world characters who lead them to shine.

“A diamond is forever.” Who between us doesn’t realize this word and, with it, the fascination that those glossy gems carry in our collective mind's eye as symbols of royalty, stars, and everlasting love? yet who gave us this catchphrase? the place do those gem stones and their colourful legacies originate? How did they turn into our culture’s image of engagement and marriage? Why have they retained their coveted prestige through the centuries?

Rachelle Bergstein’s cultural biography of the diamond illuminates the attractive, frequently wonderful tale of our society’s enduring obsession with the toughest gemstone—and the folks who've labored tirelessly to make sure its persevered attract. From the South African mines the place such a lot diamonds were sourced because the past due Eighteen Nineties to the corporations who've fought to monopolize them; from the celebs who've dazzled in them to the folks behind the curtain who've conscientiously crafted our figuring out in their value—Brilliance and fireplace offers a glittering heritage of the world’s such a lot coveted gemstone and its maximum champions and so much colourful enthusiasts.

Brilliance and Fire is illustrated with sixteen pages of colour photographs.

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