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    Brilliance and Fire: A Biography of Diamonds
    Unavailable
    Brilliance and Fire: A Biography of Diamonds
    Unavailable
    Brilliance and Fire: A Biography of Diamonds
    Ebook468 pages9 hours

    Brilliance and Fire: A Biography of Diamonds

    By Rachelle Bergstein

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    About this ebook

    From the author of Women from the Ankle Down comes a lively cultural biography of diamonds, which explores our society’s obsession with the world’s most brilliant gemstone and the real-world characters who make them shine.

    “A diamond is forever.” Who among us doesn’t recognize this phrase and, with it, the fascination that these shiny gemstones hold in our collective imagination as symbols of royalty, stars, and eternal love? But who gave us this catchphrase? Where do these gemstones and their colorful legacies originate? How did they become our culture’s symbol of engagement and marriage? Why have they retained their coveted status throughout the centuries?

    Rachelle Bergstein’s cultural biography of the diamond illuminates the enticing, often surprising story of our society’s enduring obsession with the hardest gemstone—and the people who have worked tirelessly to ensure its continued allure. From the South African mines where most diamonds have been sourced since the late 1890s to the companies who have fought to monopolize them; from the stars who have dazzled in them to the people behind the scenes who have carefully crafted our understanding of their value—Brilliance and Fire offers a glittering history of the world’s most coveted gemstone and its greatest champions and most colorful enthusiasts.

    Brilliance and Fire is illustrated with 16 pages of color photographs.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJun 7, 2016
    ISBN9780062323798
    Author

    Rachelle Bergstein

    Rachelle Bergstein, the author of Women from the Ankle Down, works at a literary agency in New York. She lives with her husband and their son in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

    Read more from Rachelle Bergstein

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