The Last Empire: De Beers, Diamonds, and the World details the history of the De Beers diamond empire as well as the history of South Africa through the eyes of the company. Beginning with the initial discovery of diamonds on the De Beers family farm and ending in the mid-1990s, Stefan Kanfer thoroughly describes Cecil Rhodes' rise to power by gradually acquiring more land and more influence until he was the most powerful man in all of Africa. The book then follows the reign of Rhodes' successors over the De Beers empire for the next hundred years. For most of the book, South Africa is in a state of apartheid, where blacks and whites must be separated at all times. This causes a great deal of change in the mining industry, and Kanfer illustrates this period of turmoil by listing countless injustices in the name of white supremacy. The Last Empire is an interesting read and is very informative, but at times can be confusing; it is difficult to take in all of the information because nearly every paragraph of the book is relevant and factual.
Ramses the Great
This book sounds very intersting. It seems like it gives more of an economic background of Apartheid, rather than focusing on the people of South Africa during the period. Economy during racial segregation is not something people usually pay attention to, so it is very cool to be able to see another aspect of Apartheid. While it seems very informative, however this book also seems to be very confusing.
ReplyDelete-Nelson Mandela
ReplyDeleteThis book seems intertesting, it touches the subject of apartheid and gives a great economic backround of the time period. Since those book is all factual, it might be a little boring to read.
ReplyDelete-Jackie Kennedy
This book sounds very intriguing. It would be interesting to see the juxtaposition of the apartheid in South Africa with the history of the diamond mining. However, by your description, it does seem to be a tedious read.
ReplyDelete-Marie Antoinette
This book seems very interesting of how the natives of South Africa were taken over by apartheid so easy.Does the book offer any insight to this?
ReplyDelete-Fidel Castro
I have always found the South African apartheid to be very interesting.
ReplyDeletethe above comment is from Aristotle
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds very interesting and like it makes you realize how far the world has come in that there is not a lot of segregation anymore. It seems like this book was on a great topic but the author portrayed it in a more factual and boring level.
ReplyDelete-Martha Stuart
Great novel. Sounds like a difficult read though. Lots of segregation and I'm assuming there are some gruesome parts to this novel.
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The best person in history whose name ends in -ses
I have always been interested in European colonialism and Cecil Rhodes' "Cape to Cairo." The book seems very interesting in terms of the hardships that were probabaly felt from the natives of South Africa. I shoudl definitely read this!
ReplyDelete-Confucius
Every nation struggles with the extent to which the government should interfere with the workings of private industries. With this book, it seems like it begs the question of the chicken and the egg: which came first? Racism or the need for cheap labor? I know apartheid came later, but was it created to strengthen the economic advantage of the whites, or was it simply an expression of their hatred?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this book, do you have thoughts on the subject?
Nice work.
Mrs. McCabe