Brilliance and Fire: A Biography of Diamonds

"A diamond is forever." Who among us doesn't recognize this slogan and, with it, the fascination that diamonds hold in our collective imagination as emblems of royalty, glamor, and eternal love? Rachelle Bergstein's cultural biography illuminates the enticing, often surprising story of our society's enduring obsession with diamonds-and the people who have worked tirelessly to ensure their continued allure. Whether in the gilded ballrooms of New York City at the end of the nineteenth century...