The Heartless Stone: A Journey through the World of Diamonds, Deceit and Desire

The first book to offer a panoramic and unflinching look at the modern diamond industry, The Heartless Stone is a journey across six continents to uncover the secrets behind one of our most luxurious and costly status symbols.

The book takes you inside illegal mines in Brazil, diamond smuggling rings in Africa, exploration rigs above the Arctic Circle, the sweltering polishing shops of India. You will meet De Beers executives in London, high-tech tunnel drillers in Australia, advertising gurus in Japan, starving soldiers in Angola, chemists in Siberia, dealers in Belgium. They are all part of a vast economy which supports the most sustained, expensive and successful advertising campaign in history.

Diamonds are not particularly rare in nature. Nor do they have any intrinsic value. So how did they become the birdcages for our deepest feelings of romantic love and commitment? The answers will surprise you, as this book takes a probing journey around the globe and into the human heart.

"After his fiance dumps him and he's left with a diamond ring to unload, Men's Health contributing editor Zoellner crisscrosses the globe unlocking the mystique of this glittering stone 'that brings misery to millions of people across the world.' Zoellner probes how 'blood diamonds' are used to fund vicious civil wars in Africa; how De Beers, seeing new markets to exploit, linked diamonds to the ancient yuino ceremony in Japan and played on caste obsession in India; and how India is pushing Belgium and Israel out of the gem trade. The author is expert with vivid prose: Australia's Argyle deposit is 'shaped a little like a human molar'; impoverished urchins in the diamond-smuggling haven of the Central African Republic get high on bread-and-shoe polish sandwiches; and a Brazilian miner finds a rich concentration of river diamonds but fritters away much of the loot on prostitutes and booze, and eventually is ruined by a dishonest money changer. Politically conscious consumers can now avoid African and Brazilian mines teeming with human rights abuses. Canada pulls $1.2 billion worth of rough diamonds out of the tundra every year while enforcing tough environmental laws, and a Florida company uses Siberian high-pressure chambers to create low-cost chemically perfect diamonds. This is a superior piece of reportage. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Zoellner spans several continents to discover all that is embodied in a diamond, encountering miners, smugglers, geologists, and government officials; assessing scientific, political, and philosophical realities; and separating truth from myth....The end result? A gem." Library Journal

"Lives up in every way to the power of its almost magical subject." Kirkus Reviews

"With a sharp narrative style and wealth of detail, The Heartless Stone cuts through the sparkle and marketing to show us that a rock is what you make of it." St. Petersburg Times

"Zoellner...interlaces lively reporting with a narrative of the ring returned by his ex-fiancee. Ultimately his Heartless Stone is a search for meaning that finds none, save a mythology of the diamond placed upon it by those with the most to gain." Portland Oregonian

"A dazzling display of intrepid reporting." Entertainment Weekly

"Riveting...a fascinating story." The Arizona Republic

"The Heartless Stone is like a diamond itself: clear, brilliant, and sharp as can be. Tom Zoellner has been everywhere and seen everything in the world of diamonds, and has come back with extraordinary stories of how this humble stone drives men to madness, deceit, corruption, and cruelty." David Plotz, Deputy Editor of Slate magazine and author of The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank

"This wonderful book takes us to the heart of the meaning of life and for many of us this heart beats in a cold gem that can slow the speed of light and whisper love with dollar signs. Diamonds mean so much because they are empty of any meaning save our hungers. My God, I would do nothing but read if all books were this honest and clean and true." Charles Bowden, Contributing editor of Esquire, and author of Blood Orchid: An Unnatural History of America

"Tom Zoellner's The Heartless Stone is a bright gem — a brilliant collection of interwoven profiles, travel pieces, reportage and the memory of a romance that must have been harder than any rock. A smart man would skip the mall jewelry and just give The Heartless Stone to his fiancee. A smart woman would be happy to have it." Denis Boyles, author of African Lives

Uncovering the truth about diamonds, The Heartless Stone is a journey to the cold heart of the world's most unyielding gem.

The Heartless Stone: A Journey Through the World of Diamonds, Deceit and Desire unmasks the fascinating history behind America's favorite gemstone. Tom Zoellner takes you on an unforgettable journey through six continents — from the deadly mines and smuggling rings of Africa to mining camps above the Arctic Circle to India's polishing mills where teenage children cut stones that eventually find their way to the shopping malls of America.

How did this relatively common mineral come to signify love and eternal promises? Why are diamonds so unnaturally expensive — yet so coveted? Why do so many risk their lives and integrity to acquire them? The answers will surprise, intrigue and disturb you, as Zoellner looks into his own powerful fascination with the diamond ring left behind from his broken engagement. The Heartless Stone goes beyond investigative reporting and explores the complicated regions of the human heart that make the diamond empire possible.

Tom Zoellner has worked as a contributing editor for Men's Health magazine and as a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. He is also the co-author of An Ordinary Man (Viking, 2006), the autobiography of Paul Rusesabagina, whose actions during the 1994 Rwandan genocide were portrayed in the movie Hotel Rwanda. Zoellner lives in New York City and is at work on a third book.