Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?: And other Investigations of the Diamond Trade, Paperback

Edward Jay Epstein investigates the most brilliant illusion in modern history: the illusion that diamonds are so rare that they will maintain their value forever. He explains how the the De Beers cartel, backed by a syndicate of Jewish diamond dealers in London, created an artificial scarcity by controlling the worldwide supply and used modern advertising to establish it in the mind of the public. In this book, comprised of six essays, we also learn about the secret workings of the cartel over the past century, including: + Why you cannot always sell diamonds for the price you paid? + Why Russia is now taking over the cartel operation? + How De Beers now uses the concept of blood diamonds to control prices? + Why Nicky Oppenheimer exited De Beers in 2011? Praise for Edward Jay Epstein: "Brilliant Expose of the International diamond monopoly" --Telegraph (London) "Full of readable if somewhat garish descriptions of diamond mines, diamond traders, and the activities of governments. If Ian Fleming were alive, he would have found much rewarding material here." -Woodrow Wyatt, Sunday Times

Edward Jay Epstein is the author of fifteen books. He studied government at Cornell and Harvard and received a Ph.D from Harvard in 1973. His thesis on the search for political truth became a best-selling book, Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth. His doctoral dissertation on television news was published as News From Nowhere. He is the recipient of numerous foundation grants and awards, including the prestigious Financial Times/Booz Allen & Hamilton Global Business Book Award for both best biography and best business book for Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer. He has written for Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. He lives in New York City.