Blood diamonds - Book Report/Review Example

02 May Blood diamonds: This paper is primarily based on the topic regarding the highly fascinating and very controversial blood diamonds. Despite the association of many myths and facts with the reality of conflict or blood diamonds, many still lack knowledge regarding their controversial nature and are oblivious to the horrors of diamond trade in Africa. This paper is an effort to allow such people to enjoy an unflinching look at the mystery of blood diamonds with the help of readings from Tom Zoellner’s book “The Heartless Stones” (2006).

In the first chapter, Zoellner (2006) emphasizes on how diamonds make their way from Central African Republic to America and explains the extreme poverty existing in Central Africa despite having the advantage of many diamond mines. He basically strives to explore where diamonds come from and what is their fate eventually. It is mentioned that blood diamonds are basically those diamonds that come from war areas in Africa and are mostly sold illegally to finance wars against international authorities.

People in Africa try to make money through diamonds because it makes their only source of survival, not that diamonds have any specific association with their tradition. The African nation wants to rise and flourish and that is why N’gozo (cited in Zoellner 6) said that “diamonds are the price of admission to what we think we want.” The book explains that blood diamonds are named so because many mass murders and bloodshed is related to them in the African history. Many military invasions in Africa led to occupying the diamond mines by the troops and efforts to defend them by the local Africans led to their brutal crucified deaths.

After much bloodshed and horrendous murders, these diamonds were transferred from the African mines to the European countries and America, thus acquiring the name blood diamonds. People in Africa are worked mercilessly for hunting diamonds and would be paid almost 200$ for a diamond that may be sold for 40000$ in America. (Zoellner 28). Zoellner (119) later explains the fate of blood diamond in his book after they reach London from Central Africa. De Beers is a diamond firm located in London where all the influential people in diamond market meet every year to buy the unpolished diamonds.

The discovery of a single diamond by a local African boy sent waves of thrill around the globe, as Zoellner (121) says that, “news of the big diamond’s discovery went off like a cannon shot in the summer of 1870.” This led to many military invasions in Africa in an order to acquire control over the diamond mines. Going back to the De Beers story, Zoellner (2006) says that another firm controlled by Rhodes, who had even more thirst for diamonds and for which he intended to annex more African nations, raise an army and initiate a war.

Rhode’s company intended to anything violent in Africa to gain more diamonds. Practicing intense discrimination was casual in the diamond mines where white and black workers hunted for diamonds. Black workers were required to strip so that they could be whether they had hidden diamond. In short, there is a bloodcurdling and violent history related to blood diamonds and it is a fact that they see a lot before coming in the markets. Work cited: Zoellner, Tom. The Heartless Stone: A Journey Through the World of Diamonds, Deceit, and Desire.

Picador, 2006. Print.