How Long to Read Blood and Diamonds

How Long Does it Take to Read Blood and Diamonds?

It takes the average reader 5 hours and 57 minutes to read Blood and Diamonds by Steven Press

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

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.

How long is Blood and Diamonds?

Blood and Diamonds by Steven Press is 353 pages long, and a total of 89,309 words.

This makes it 119% the length of the average book. It also has 109% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read Blood and Diamonds Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 8 hours and 8 minutes to read Blood and Diamonds aloud.

What Reading Level is Blood and Diamonds?

Blood and Diamonds is suitable for students ages 12 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy Blood and Diamonds?

Blood and Diamonds by Steven Press is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

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