Diamond Stories

New York's diamond business is an insular world. Yet thanks to introductions from relatives in the business, anthropologist Shield gained access to the industry's inner sanctum: West 47th Street in Manhattan... This modest, accessible if somewhat academic volume ... covers a lot of ground... The book offers a window into an enigmatic sector of society that, as Shield ably portrays, balances on the cusp between the traditional and the modern. -Publishers Weekly, April 15, 2002 Markets ... dominate the global economy. In fact, much of the recent Internet Revolution was built on the notion of creating new markets ... where everything from steel to freelance services could be traded. Then there's the diamond market, a complex yet loosely structured system that's part souk, part multibillion-dollar global exchange. This curious blend is what makes Diamond Stories such an engrossing read... While Shield is an anthropologist by training, Diamond Stories is more a well-told tale than a scholarly book. -Robert Rosenberg, BusinessWeek, June 21, 2002 Thanking Uncles Moishe and Shmiel is more than a scholar's nod to family forbearance in Diamond Stories. For Renee Rose Shield ... her uncles were her ethnographic entree. Their good names and many decades in New York's diamond trade gave her access to the inner sancta of the midtown industry. -Nina C. Ayoub, Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/31/02 Diamond Stories is the best view of the cloistered world of New York's Jewish diamond community that anyone has ever set down in print. The author captures the trading environment, the negotiation rituals, and the sardonic wit and 'folklore' with a sympathetic insider's view and without the stereotypes and cliches to which others have fallen prey. Throughout the book, she relates how diamond dealers admonished her to 'get the tone right.' That she has done very well. -Russell Shor, Gemological Institute of America. Gems and Gemology, Summer 2002 Shield has done an excellent job revealing the hidden world of the diamond trade... anyone interested in a behind-the-scenes look at the diamond world will find themselves satisfied. -Rabbi Rachel Esserman, The Reporter, June 20, 2003 Renee interviewed diamond dealers, brokers, and manufacturers (the majority of them Orthodox or Hasidic Jews), and then merged her findings with anthropological observations. -Toby Rossner, East Side Marketplace Renee Rose Shield gives us an inside look at the diamond industry. Her stories sparkle with warmth, humor, and insight. -Eli Izhakoff, Chairman and CEO, World Diamond Council When I first heard someone was doing an anthropological study on the diamond industry, I thought, Great idea!' Now that I've read it, I can add,'Great book!' The diamond world is a business unlike any other, with its own cultures, rules and traditions Renee Shield is a lively, insightful guide to this mysterious and fascinating world. -Rob Bates, Editor, New York Diamonds Magazine True to its subject, the complex world of the contemporary diamond merchant, this book offers a multi-faceted, well written, and sensitively rendered account of why this precious gemstone has taken hold of both our imagination and our pocketbooks. -Jenna Weissman Joselit, author of A Perfect Fit: Clothes, Character and the Promise of America Renee Rose Shield explores the fascinating world of diamond traders in a lively and engaging narrative, weaving together economics, geology, business, sociology, and culture. -Helen Fremont, author of After Long Silence: A Memoir This is a jewel of a book whose facets include commerce, gender, aging, and ethnicity. Simultaneously biblical, local, and global in her scope, Shield cuts to the heart of a community-an unusual place of trade and tradition-with great eloquence and insight. -Joel S. Savishinsky, Charles A. Dana Professor in The Social Sciences, Ithaca College, Author , Breaking The Watch: The Meanings of Retirement in America