“Unforgettable. . . . An outstanding adventure in its lyrical, utterly compelling, and heartbreaking investigations of the world of diamond smuggling.” —Aimee Nezhukumatathil For nearly eighty years, a huge portion of coastal South Africa was closed off to the public. With many of its pits now deemed “overmined” and abandoned, American journalist Matthew Gavin Frank sets out across the infamous Diamond Coast to investigate an illicit trade that supplies a global market. Immediately, he became intrigued by the ingenious methods used in facilitating smuggling particularly, the illegal act of sneaking carrier pigeons onto mine property, affixing diamonds to their feet, and sending them into the air. Entering Die Sperrgebiet (“The Forbidden Zone”) is like entering an eerie ghost town, but Frank is surprised by the number of people willing—even eager—to talk with him. Soon he meets Msizi, a young diamond digger, and his pigeon, Bartholomew, who helps him steal diamonds. It’s a deadly game: pigeons are shot on sight by mine security, and Msizi knows of smugglers who have disappeared because of their crimes. For this, Msizi blames “Mr. Lester,” an evil tall-tale figure of mythic proportions. From the mining towns of Alexander Bay and Port Nolloth, through the “halfway” desert, to Kleinzee’s shores littered with shipwrecks, Frank investigates a long overlooked story. Weaving interviews with local diamond miners who raise pigeons in secret with harrowing anecdotes from former heads of security, environmental managers, and vigilante pigeon hunters, Frank reveals how these feathered bandits became outlaws in every mining town. Interwoven throughout this obsessive quest are epic legends in which pigeons and diamonds intersect, such as that of Krishna’s famed diamond Koh-i-Noor, the Mountain of Light, and that of the Cherokee serpent Uktena. In these strange connections, where truth forever tangles with the lore of centuries past, Frank is able to contextualize the personal grief that sent him, with his wife Louisa in the passenger seat, on this enlightening journey across parched lands. Blending elements of reportage, memoir, and incantation, Flight of the Diamond Smugglers is a rare and remarkable portrait of exploitation and greed in one of the most dangerous areas of coastal South Africa. With his sovereign prose and insatiable curiosity, Matthew Gavin Frank “reminds us that the world is a place of wonder if only we look” (Toby Muse).

Willa Sibert Cather (1873-1947) was an eminent American author. She spent her childhood in Red Cloud, Nebraska, the same town that has been made famous by her writing. She insisted on attending college, so her family borrowed money so she could enroll at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While there, she became a regular contributor to the Nebraska State Journal. She then moved to Pittsburgh, where she taught high school English and worked for Home Monthly, and eventually got a job offer from McClure's Magazine in New York City. Later, she became the managing editor in 1908. The latter publication serialized her first novel, Alexander's Bridge (1912), which was heavily influenced by Henry James. For her novels she returned to the prairie for inspiration, and these works became popular and critical successes. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for One of Ours (1922). Her other works include: O Pioneers! (1913), The Song of the Lark (1915), My Antonia (1918) and A Lost Lady (1923).

Refracted Economies examines the gendered impact of the diamond industry in the Canadian Northwest Territories.

Mining for Diamonds is a metaphor for going within to explore your inner realms; to find and use internal tools to heal from the pain of your childhood; and to discover and claim your true self. This book takes you within to explore your inner realms.

Russell H. Conwell Founder Of Temple University Philadelphia.

First published in 2001, Barren Lands is the classic true story of the men who sought—and found—a great diamond mine on the last frontier of the far north. From a bloody 18th-century trek across the Canadian tundra to the daunting natural forces facing protagonists Chuck Fipke and Stewart Blusson as they struggle against the mighty DeBeers cartel, this is the definitive account of one of the world’s great mineral discoveries. Combining geology, science history, raw nature, and high intrigue, it is also a tale of supreme adventure, taking the reader into a magical—and now fast-vanishing—wild landscape. Now in a newly revised and updated edition.

The second book in the epic Ballantyne series Zouga was left alone, as alone in spirit as he had ever been in any of his wanderings across the vast African continent. He had spent almost the last penny he owned on these few square feet of yellow earth at the bottom of this hot and dusty pit. He had no men to help him work it, no experience, no capital.' A tribal battle. An Empire's war. Zouga Ballantyne has in his blood a fanatic's need to find diamonds, one that will take him to Southern Africa's most punishing places. Losing his wife to one of the many sicknesses that haunt the diamond mine camp, Zouga and his sons must find another way through the country, helping to build the British Empire, and developing their own form of civilisation in the face of tribal opposition. But the Ballantyne family success comes at a price -the sacrifice of the local Matabele tribe, who have tried to live alongside the colonists, but are slowly losing everything. In the face of exploitation, violence and greed, who will triumph in the land of ruthless men?