When Diamonds Aren’t Forever

By Mad Dog
Published: Nov 07, 2011

Edward Jay Epstein has started to make e-books out of four decades of investigative reporting. As we're coming into the season when we'll be hearing "a diamond is forever," I thought to re-read one of his books, "Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? And Other Investigations of the Diamond Trade." It's mostly about De Beers, which has had a monopoly on diamonds for a century: how it created that monopoly, how it marketed "scarcity," how it uses the concept of "blood diamonds" to maintain its dominance. Now that's all changing. On Friday (11/4), the Oppenheimer family announced it would sell its stake in De Beers. One of the coolest things about e-books is that the author can update them in seconds. Well, on Saturday (11/5), Epstein added a new chapter. To download the Kindle book, click here.