The Deadly Path

leondumoulin.nl: Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones (): Greg Campbell: Books.
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Do you work with a Control Freak? Learn techniques that will help you work successfully with Narcissists, Manipulators, Bullies, and Perfectionists. Review "A vivid, hair-raising tale of brutal proportions that outdistances any fictional tale of derring-do. Related Video Shorts 0 Upload your video. Try the Kindle edition and experience these great reading features: Share your thoughts with other customers.

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I love the way Greg Campbell writes. I picked up this book after reading American Pain which I loved. If you haven't read Campbell before maybe start there. The way he writes weaves a tale of current events and history with the personal stories of the people he meets. In this book he has a strong start describing the war atrocities. Imagine a rebel group in the jungle headed by "General Mosquito" executing "Operation No Living Thing" by cutting off people's hands.

But he does get somewhat mired in economic statistics. The descriptions of the mines and the process is excellent. Campbell saved the Best for last as he returns to the country after 10 years. He finds a ray of hope in a free school for children which is well worth waiting for. One of the best parts of reading Campbell is that he finds humor in the most desperate of situations. Hang in there for his description of a surgery in a rudimentary hospital without electricity. You have to laugh or you will cry. It's a good thing you saved the best for the end here Greg.

One person found this helpful. I just finished reading this book so I turned my computer on to review it. But before I did that, I checked my email. The very first article was about how human rights abuses are going on in a particular mine in Zimbabwe, Africa. How ironic for me unknowingly I read the article and it is about what is going on in the book.

Unfortunately, many gold and gem mines are located in the heart of the poorest of the poor countries I have been aware of diabolical people and government officials in this industry for many years. I love jewelry and wear it almost every day. But, I am very happy wearing a zirconia ring or a bracelet of colorful stones rather than supporting a long time corrupt industry that is making unlawful people richer, while those dredging for the gold in the mines are still the poorest of the poor.

This book is a good read full of valuable knowledge you just won't forget. It is intense because there is a lot of content in it informing us of what is going on with corruption. You might not want to listen to me as I am a human rights advocate; so, do it for yourself.

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Read the book if you are a jewelry lover, if you are interested in human rights or just plain interested. Keep in mind that it is not just us in Western society supporting this bloody trade industry. Much money is made off of those wealthy in the Middle East, India, Asia and so on. And I mean no disrespect to any persons wearing jewelry of good quality. I'm just trying to bring light to a tragic, unlawful industry.

I recommend this book due to all the content that is important for us to know about as consumers, as people who wear jewelry, for thousands of people's human rights, and for people who are just interested in an educational and dramatic read. Well done story of the diamond racket as well as the abject failure of governments world wide to provide "HONEST," competent governance.

Every time a see a sucker with a diamond ring I laugh. They are wearing blood on their hands. Governments have some of this blood on their hands as well by allowing this racket to continue. Greg Campbell had a photographer along with him. I wonder where the photos went? Audible Audiobook Verified Purchase. Arrived on time and reasonable pricing. Excellent book that is very well written and very well researched.

The author takes a very helpful and informative approach to explaining the history of these diamonds. It really opened my eyes into that world and the diamond trade in general. I couldn't put it down. See all 38 reviews. Most recent customer reviews. Published 1 year ago. Selling it would flood the market. This was in preparation for Sept 11, as he knew the US would seize his funds after the attack. Its very likely the scheme worked, and conflict diamonds are what is funding him today. Apr 24, Patrick Belair rated it it was amazing Shelves: This is a very disturbing book about a conflict far away that most people know little about, or don't care because it has no impact on them.

Have clueless they are. The impact in this region will be felt for decades. Remember this the next time you go to the mall, And buy that small token of your love. Think about how many peoples lives have been destroyed. Big business is only concerned with the bottom line. Charles Taylor ex pres of liberia guilty!

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But someone will always be in line This is a very disturbing book about a conflict far away that most people know little about, or don't care because it has no impact on them. But someone will always be in line to be next. Sep 20, Kati rated it really liked it Shelves: I am never buying a diamond ever again. Contains graphic content, and language. Mar 14, Mqcarpenter rated it it was amazing. Yes this is the book that the recent movie was based on.


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No I have not seen the movie. The author is a journalist, and it shows. The depth of research and detail in this book is amazing. It outlines in many layers the diamond industry, its history, and its relation to West Africa. I had no idea what to expect from the book, and was shocked to learn the horrid details and atrocities that have been occurring for decades there.

Obviously, like the bumper sticker says, "if you are not appalled, you Yes this is the book that the recent movie was based on. Obviously, like the bumper sticker says, "if you are not appalled, you are not paying attention. Campbell shows how elite people literally fabricate the demand for diamonds, and its price points. Everyone seems to believe that diamonds are the most precious thing you can give a loved one.

Have you ever wondered? Why is it better than any other gem or gift? The answers are very interesting, and are laid out in this book. When you learn the origins of many diamonds, the process they go through and the conditions of the people who mine them, you may want to return it. I know I do. It made me sick. We live in quite a bubble about so many things. I am glad that someone is bringing a conscience to the public about horrible human rights situations like these.

The sad thing is that it also makes you wonder why countries like our own are just ignoring it. If we can justify attacking other countries for made up reasons, why can't we take on true issues that are so well documented? It is all politics while people die. This book is one of the best written books I have read in a long time. Campbell's writing style is intelligent, vivid, and picturesque.

His depth of research and personal involvement in making this book is astonishing. I appreciate descriptions that make me feel like I am actually with the writer. Such is the case with Blood Diamonds. An excellent read if you can handle its gruesome reality and deep network of connections to follow Feb 24, Sigmund rated it really liked it. They allowed for ten years of anarchy and chaos to sweep through a country. The RUF by being the chaos themselves and DeBeers by enabling them, with money, to continue to do this.

And yet, only part of the RUF was properly tried and executed for their crimes. DeBeers remains as a legal organization that supplies millions diamonds across the world. Blood Diamonds provided me with a much-needed perspective of the mutiny and devastation that swept through Sierra Leone through these years, and of the unfairness of it all. Mar 23, Kim rated it it was ok. I went back and forth from liking some of this book to feeling bogged down in detail by other parts of it.

Not being familiar with the geography didn't help either. I guess the logistics of the money transfers and amounts involved, althouogh necessary to make his point, made the story a little dry at times. I want Simon Winch I went back and forth from liking some of this book to feeling bogged down in detail by other parts of it.

Apr 27, James rated it liked it Shelves: So so book, it has some interesting stories. Too much of the book is about the author, how brave he was to go there, the hardships he suffered, , how if everyone was as clear-sighted as him, there wouldn't be a problem, bla bla bla.

Just when you think people couldn't be any worse than you already know you read about how cutting off hands, and sometimes feet, was used as a political tactic. Jul 29, Erin rated it really liked it. Aug 29, Cathy rated it it was amazing. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I knew this would be a hard read and it is: The other worldly butchery of the people, the complicity of the diamond industry, and the ties to terroism are here. I'm always struck by the horrific acts casually perpetuated by people.

People not unlike myself. Would I give in to my darker side if circumstance, opportunity, greed, lust for power or maybe just plain survival were at stake? The narrator was wonderful. The material he had to work with was grueling to listen to, war and atrocities. Important things to know about the diamond trade and the almost unbelievable inhumanity surrounding it. I'm glad I've always been a CZ kind of person.

If I had any diamonds I wouldn't be able to keep them after this book. Really tough but certainly recommended.

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The horrific lengths many went to in s Sierra Leone to control and mine the diamond fields is just part of the blood diamonds story. The role of everyone else down the line who bought and sold the diamonds that ended up in our jewelry is the rest of the story. And of course, the former wouldn't happen without the latter. In that way, this is a disturbing book, especially for one like myself who bought my only diamond in the mids. Campbell packs on the details of both the horrors of the fi The horrific lengths many went to in s Sierra Leone to control and mine the diamond fields is just part of the blood diamonds story.

Campbell packs on the details of both the horrors of the fields and the intricacies of the global diamond trade. At each stage of the journey a diamond takes from the fields to your local mall, each handler ignores info on its likely source in favour of the sure profit. He illustrates how, despite diamond trade assurances to the contrary, no one can be certain if they have a blood diamond on their finger.

Various attempts to regulate and control the industry have failed and things aren't likely to change. Although this isn't one of the author's points, here's one of the takeaways for me: A somewhat uneven book that dumps a lot of info without framing it as much of a story. Parts were very dry and difficult to wade through. May 24, AJ P rated it liked it Shelves: It also has a lot of gut wrenching information on the awful events in Sierra Leone.

Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones by Greg Campbell

What was not good - it very much fell into the genre of book that described how pathetic and disease ridden and poor Africa is. So it was cliche. I hate when books about Africa do that. Anyway, despite the flaws this is still a very good book about the diamond industry, and how it has, and is, driving conflict in Africa. It also gets into the funding of terrorism that would have hit readers hard back in the early s. Aug 21, Deyth Banger rated it really liked it Shelves: Give them guns and they are going to become killing machines. First with Blind with cloth on his eyes Speed should be a skill adopt by each human living creature.

World has been changed once and for al "August 21, — 5. World has been changed once and for all, I have said that before now I am saying it again, which means that you should gain speed and if you normally were around 5 books Do you get it? There are billions of stories such as "Blood Diamonds" What's really a soldier? Is his natural selection good? It's natural it's good for you.. Nope, damn wrong natural selection can be good and bad It's like humans they are good and bad Once we close our eyes we hear the voices of dead.

Apr 08, Daniel rated it really liked it Shelves: Don't buy a diamond, EVER. No gemstone is worth children having their arms chopped off for sport. This book details the exploitative diamond trade and civil wars, centered in Sierra Leone and the neighboring countries. It is staggering how the evils of this massive industry begin in dark caves across Africa and end up in the hands of countless couples as they buy their wedding rings from local jewelers around the world.

The prologue is the most important part of the book and should be required f Don't buy a diamond, EVER. The prologue is the most important part of the book and should be required for everyone everywhere as it details the size and scope of the diamond trade and the immense bloodshed that has resulted in Sierra Leone. Greg Campbell is a journalist and his writing style reflects this. The only part of the book that annoyed me was his references to himself throughout the text.

He flowed between sharing memories of various encounters he had with straight reporting. Blood Diamonds is excellent and it highlights many things that need to have a bigger place in our collective consciousness. Mar 22, Paula rated it did not like it. Almost good coverage of the conflicts in Sierra Leone ruined by uber liberal left wing reporter who Monday morning quarterbacks every solution to every problem with a nike-esque "AMERICA should just do it" rationalization- in the face of all of his own very compelling arguments as to why it would be almost impossible- that I am sorry his typing hands weren't severed along with the thousands of natives.

There's nothing more offensive to me than someone who shows up in a war torn infrastructure-le Almost good coverage of the conflicts in Sierra Leone ruined by uber liberal left wing reporter who Monday morning quarterbacks every solution to every problem with a nike-esque "AMERICA should just do it" rationalization- in the face of all of his own very compelling arguments as to why it would be almost impossible- that I am sorry his typing hands weren't severed along with the thousands of natives.

There's nothing more offensive to me than someone who shows up in a war torn infrastructure-less jungle who spends the first third of his book explaining why it was impossible for the locals, natives, a UN peacekeeping force-really any force- to solve even the most rudimentary problem in this war torn land despite more international resources spent on it that in any other conflict IN THE HISTORY OF THE UN- because- as the author illustrates- the country is all jungle trails and even the rebels cant blast through it with AK 47s- And really they are just Children who shouldn't be shot just because they are rapacious sociopathic mutilators.

These kids make Dahmer look like Paula Dean. In light of all this- the author spends the last 3rd of the book telling me it is America's obligation to fix it and that we are stupid for not doing it. DAYS AFTER the American govt didn't do the right thing because there are some tenuous ties to al Quieda money laundering and the diamond trade in this country that ending Sierra Leone's 80 years of barbarism that no one in the world closer to them gave a shit about the day after should have been the top priority of the American people.

I should send MY SON into this jungle mess because some unnamed jackass "analyst" no one has ever heard of says we could have handled it in 12 days- OH yeah Mr. And how long after that would you have expected us to stay and invest our service people's lives, American GDP, and other resources we don't have to spare?

CUz if we don't flame it down to a parking lot- how do you expect democracy to take hold- fair elections to be run, the fighters, the mutilators the terrorists running rampant over the countryside are adolescents! We're gonna turn them into sweet students who listen to their mommies and behave accordingly? What, they're gonna turn around on day 10 to deliver newspapers to save up for three years to buy a bike instead of picking up a gun and ax to terrorize an entire village into digging up diamonds by using bayonets to carve unborn children out of their mother's bellies and boiling children over a fire if they refuse to shoot their own mother's?


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You are smarter than that. How stupid do you think we are? I got news for you, we could blow the place to pieces and pave the bitch over in a week, we don't need 12 days. What we can not do it instill humanity into monsters in less than a fortnight. Could we provide a personal escort and a counselor for every kid in the country and a prosthetic for every one of the millions of limbs that have been amputated.. We cant do that here. We should send our service men into an unknown jungle to fix this mess half way around the world?

We could kill everyone in Sierra leone in 12 days- but if you want to turn an entire generation of genocidal diamond thieving hand-chopping off animals into humans in a country with no educational system, no infrastructure no medical care, no psychiatric services, no government and no democracy into a real country- and we're supposed to drop everything to do it because there might be some financial tie between terrorist financing and blood diamonds? Yeah, and lets nuke Switzerland while we're at it, because there is a link between their banks and terrorism too. Then who is the enemy we will defeat in 12 days?

To lay it on my doorstep because of is disgusting. He's disgusting- the whole whiny little selfish bitch story - I wish I could have helped, but there was nothing I could do, I just paid for my flight to Africa and my flat back home and only had enough cipro for myself, but America should straighten this out but those selfish American millionaires and too busy war mongering and buying their girlfriends diamonds- like we all sit around with our monocles and fainting salts while our servants prepare tea on silver platters- I got news for you Campbell- We have our own violent children, medical deficiencies and economic problems.

Half my friends cant afford to vacation for 4 days on the jersey shore-Shove your international flight ticket and holier than thou attitude up your stodgy self righteous do-nothing-but-but place- blame-on-the-wrong-people-ass. An incredibly complex history and tragic consequences of a bloody trade in an intrinsically worthless treasure.

Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones

No diamond is worth this kind of exploitation and misery. The author did a tremendous job in research and story-telling, going to some terrifying places to write this book. Before you buy any diamond, read this book. If you still think a diamond is romantic, I wonder about you, but the only forever thing about diamonds is the misery they produce.

Jun 25, Nicky rated it liked it Shelves: A brutal and compelling read. Nonetheless, informative, well written and researched and no holds barred in terms of where responsibility for the brutality lies and the failures of the international community effectively to intervene. Aug 02, Heather rated it it was amazing Shelves: Jan 09, Erika Kreher rated it really liked it.

Heartbreaking but so informative. Aug 25, Bure Kabisa rated it liked it. Aug 17, Carlos Sousa rated it it was amazing. Mar 13, Emily Dawley rated it really liked it Shelves: This one packs an emotional punch. The author describes horrific abuse at the hands of RUF rebel fighters against Sierra Leone civilians all in the name of greed for diamond money. RUF rebels and later supposed peacekeeping groups chop off hands, arms, legs, and other body parts of ordinary citizens to spread fear and chaos.

While the RUF acts as the henchman for the torture, the real player is the De Beers diamond company and it's monopoly over the diamond market. Things I learned included how This one packs an emotional punch. This is a sobering, eye-opening book that makes me feel terribly guilty about even owning diamonds as I have no way of knowing if they are conflict tainted or not.