From Publishers Weekly
Kanfer ( A Summer World ), a writer and editor at Time , focuses more clearly on history than on analysis in this chronicle of the South African-based De Beers diamond empire. He stylishly recounts tales of 19th-century South Africa, where such arresting characters as Barney Barnato and Cecil Rhodes made fortunes on the frontier. He describes the founding of De Beers's sibling, the Anglo-American Corp., and the quirky, powerful Oppenheimer family at its helm. Kanfer offers an adequate, but not probing, analysis of De Beers's alliances with South Africa's enemies, and the cartel's currently diminishing prospects due to the political situations in Angola and Russia. Conspicuously missing are both a description of the important role De Beers and Anglo have played over the past two years during South Africa's protracted negotiations toward democracy, and a consideration of how they might fare under a new government. Photos not seen by PW. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The next time you hear that a "diamond is forever," you may wish to read this history of the De Beers diamond empire and its later absorption under the Oppenheimers by the Anglo-American Corporation. From its opening depiction of the grim diamond fields, this is the story of cutthroat capitalists, the economic and racial development of South Africa, and a multinational corporation that controls virtually the world's entire diamond and gold trade. Kanfer is a Time magazine journalist with a flair for spinning a very good tale that should appeal to general readers, especially history buffs. Not a dry, scholarly tome, this book provides more compelling reading than most fiction.- Paul H. Thomas, Hoover Institution Lib. , Stanford, Cal.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
From veteran Time editor Kanfer (A Summer World, 1989, etc.): an enjoyable history of De Beers, the great business empire that founded a country, helped start a war, and funded the legendary Rhodes scholarships. Kanfer begins with the discovery, in 1867, of the first diamond in South Africa, found by a farm boy who noticed ``in the glare of the sun a glittering pebble.'' That pebble was the first of a great mother lode of diamonds to be found in this arid area of South Africa along the Orange River and, later--to the great relief of investors--buried deep in the ground in pipes of ancient rock. The Kimberley diamond fields attracted adventurers, failures, and a slew of ambitious men: young Jews from the London slums, like Solly Joel and the great Barney Barnato; Albert Beit, from Germany; and, of course, Cecil Rhodes, the clergyman's son who dreamed of making the continent British from the Cape to Cairo. Kanfer describes how these men formed the holdings that--named after the owners of a farm on which a rich lode was discovered--became De Beers. In time, the old guard was taken over by Ernest Oppenheimer, an ambitious young Englishman who survived anti-Semitism, the obstructions of rivals, even a shipwreck, to found--with the help of American capital--the Anglo American Corporation, which he used to buy De Beers, turning it into a powerful cartel that today controls the worldwide sale of diamonds. Kanfer not only details the Oppenheimers' rise to fame and fortune, their often brilliant tactics to safeguard their empire (not the least being the slogan ``a diamond is forever''), and the relevant historical background, but he also speculates on a future threatened by turmoil in South Africa, smuggling in Angola, disruption in Russia, and a global recession. Timely corporate history--as exciting and poignant as any good tale of derring-do against great odds by all-too-flawed giants. (Forty photographs) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Book Description
With a scholar's precision and a novelist's eye, Stefan Kanfer tells the inside story of De Beers Consolidated Mines - from the nineteenth century diamond rush that transformed Johannes De Beer's humble South African farm into an exotic klondike, to the Oppenheimers' shadow empire that has achieved umatched global reach.

FROM OUR EDITORS

This history of the 19th-century diamond rush that transformed Johannes De Beer's humble South African homestead into an empire uncovers the passionate inside story of a billionaire family and reveals the roles of such legendary figures as Cecil Rhodes, the Oppenheimers, & Salomon Brothers. B&W photos.

ANNOTATION

With a scholar's precision and a novelist's eye, Stefan Kanfer tells the inside story of De Beers Consolidated Mines--from the 19th century diamond rush that transformed Johannes De Beer's humble South American farm into an exotic klondike to the Oppenheimers' shadow empire that has achieved unmatched global reach. Photos.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

With a scholar's precision and a novelist's eye, Stefan Kanfer tells the inside story of De Beers Consolidated Mines -- from the nineteenth-century diamond rush that transformed Johannes De Beer's humble South African farm into an exotic Klondike, to the Oppenheimers' shadow empire, which has achieved unmatched global reach.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Kanfer ( A Summer World ), a writer and editor at Time , focuses more clearly on history than on analysis in this chronicle of the South African-based De Beers diamond empire. He stylishly recounts tales of 19th-century South Africa, where such arresting characters as Barney Barnato and Cecil Rhodes made fortunes on the frontier. He describes the founding of De Beers's sibling, the Anglo-American Corp., and the quirky, powerful Oppenheimer family at its helm. Kanfer offers an adequate, but not probing, analysis of De Beers's alliances with South Africa's enemies, and the cartel's currently diminishing prospects due to the political situations in Angola and Russia. Conspicuously missing are both a description of the important role De Beers and Anglo have played over the past two years during South Africa's protracted negotiations toward democracy, and a consideration of how they might fare under a new government. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)

Library Journal