TORONTO, May 10, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Diamonds are forever -- the world's most desired gems. But behind their alluring beauty is a dangerous appeal that lures people to do anything in order to possess them. Dig into the mines of Namaqualand and discover why Diamonds Are Dangerous in anthropologist-author Peter Carstens' intriguing collection of stories of illicit diamond buying. With elements of humor, tragedy, and history, readers will surely be entwined in a web of heart-stopping drama and action.
Diamonds have become one of the world's most valuable natural commodities. As gems, no other geological creation can compete with this versatile mineral. But diamonds also create individual and social problems when they are removed from their natural resting places. Some people say that diamonds are moody and disruptive, blaming them for all kinds of misfortune. Others speak of the luck diamonds bring them in their lives.
Diamonds Are Dangerous is a volume of fascinating stories on diamond-mining, diamond-buying, and diamond-stealing during the diamond boom of 1925 to the end of the Depression in Kleinzee. Daring pursuits and amusing goings-on will entertain readers on the cop-and-robber dimension of Illicit Diamond Buying, in a poignant period of great poverty, World War II, regional drought, and unemployment. Imagine the fantastic sight of dazzling gem clusters that thieves scheme to steal and be tempted by these sparkling wonders that bandits orchestrate to make disappear.
Open your mind with the gripping stories of Illicit Diamond Buying as temptation and morality battle in the fatal web spun by the treacherous beauty in Diamonds Are Dangerous. Get a copy now at your local book retailer or online at Xlibris.com today!
About the Author
Peter Carstens is a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. He was born in South Africa where he received his academic training as a social anthropologist. He immigrated to Canada in 1965. He was born in the mining town of Kleinzee in 1929, and spent his early years there. As a professional social anthropologist, he subsequently researched and wrote about the social issues associated with Kleinzee and the communities of the surrounding district. His father, Jack Carstens, worked for De Beers from 1928 to 1956 as the mine pit superintendent, a position he acquired as a result of his being the first discoverer of diamonds in Namaqualand on August 15, 1925. Peter is the author of In The Company of Diamonds: De Beers, Kleinzee, and the Control of a Company Town. Watch out for his upcoming book, which is a creative treatment of the ethnographical field notes of a young anthropologist, Always Here, Even Tomorrow: The Nama of Southern Africa.
DIAMONDS ARE DANGEROUS * by Peter Carstens
Stories from the Early Days in Namaqualand 1925-1960
Publication Date: February 5, 2007
Trade Paperback; $20.99; 126 pages; 978-1-4257-4127-3
Cloth Hardback; $30.99; 126 pages; 978-1-4257-4128-0
To request a complimentary paperback review copy, contact the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 7836. Tearsheets may be sent by regular or electronic mail to Marketing Services. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (610) 915-0294 or call (888) 795-4274 x.7876.
Xlibris books can be purchased at Xlibris bookstore. For more information, contact Xlibris at (888) 795-4274 or on the web at www.Xlibris.com.