Blood and Diamonds: Germany’s Imperial Ambitions in Africa

by Steven Press

Diamonds have long been bloody. A new history shows how Germany’s ruthless African empire brought diamond rings to retail display cases in America―at the cost of African lives.

Since the late 1990s, activists have campaigned to remove “conflict diamonds” from jewelry shops and department stores. But if the problem of conflict diamonds―gems extracted from war zones―has only recently generated attention, it is not a new one. Nor are conflict diamonds an exception in an otherwise honest industry. The modern diamond business, Steven Press shows, owes its origins to imperial wars and has never escaped its legacy of exploitation.

In Blood and Diamonds , Press traces the interaction of the mass-market diamond and German colonial domination in Africa. Starting in the 1880s, Germans hunted for diamonds in Southwest Africa. In the decades that followed, Germans waged brutal wars to control the territory, culminating in the genocide of the Herero and Nama peoples and the unearthing of vast mineral riches. Press follows the trail of the diamonds from the sands of the Namib Desert to government ministries and corporate boardrooms in Berlin and London and on to the retail counters of New York and Chicago. As Africans working in terrifying conditions extracted unprecedented supplies of diamonds, European cartels maintained the illusion that the stones were scarce, propelling the nascent US market for diamond engagement rings. Convinced by advertisers that diamonds were both valuable and romantically significant, American purchasers unwittingly funded German imperial ambitions into the era of the world wars.

Amid today’s global frenzy of mass consumption, Press’s history offers an unsettling reminder that cheap luxury often depends on an alliance between corporate power and state violence.

Genres: History, Africa, Germany, Nonfiction

352 pages, Hardcover

Published April 6, 2021

Reviews

[Ruslan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book on a topic that we must say is not very well known outside of research and historical circles; I should thank for receiving a copy of the book. The author has presented many details, dates, context. It was useful and interesting for me to read the book and I recommend it to all history buffs, but also historians - the book gives nuances to the process of colonialism in Africa and especially to not so well-known actors like Imperial Germany.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well written account of a little studied chapter in Germany‘s past.

[Chloe Z · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book on the exact topic of my interest! steven press inspires me to work in German imperial history bc all his published works have been so international, so cool. great writing, great organization, overall a good read

[Klissia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinant read and topic that nowadays is not so much discussed,the harsh exploration of diamonds in African colonies by Germany in last century. Blood,starvation,violence.slaverism.concentration camps, ugly facts... This is very well researched.A work that abrange a more nuanced look to the psychological impact of modern marketing&capitalism in create a brand and cultural value and habits to convince people about have a possession of diamonds, even the little pieces.