• Blood Diamonds

  • Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones
  • By: Greg Campbell
  • Narrated by: Tom Weiner
  • Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (270 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Blood Diamonds  By  cover art

Blood Diamonds

By: Greg Campbell
Narrated by: Tom Weiner
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $13.22

Buy for $13.22

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

The diamonds of Sierra Leone have funded one of the most savage rebel campaigns in modern history. These "blood diamonds" are smuggled out of West Africa and sold to legitimate diamond merchants in London, Antwerp, and New York, often with the complicity of the international diamond industry. Eventually, these very diamonds find their way into the rings and necklaces of brides the world over.

Blood Diamonds is the gripping story of how diamond smuggling works, how the rebel war has effectively destroyed Sierra Leone and its people, and how the policies of the diamond industry, institutionalized in the 1880s by the De Beers cartel, have allowed it to happen. Award-winning journalist Greg Campbell traces the deadly trail of these diamonds and the repercussions felt far beyond the poor and war-ridden country of Sierra Leone.

©2002 Greg Campbell (P)2006 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"A vivid, hair-raising tale of brutal proportions that outdistances any fictional tale of derring-do." (Washington Times)
"This is an important, gut-wrenching story, one still unfolding in the wake of the war and September 2001." (San Francisco Chronicle)
"Mr. Campbell tells this complex tale from a personal, feet-on-the-ground perspective....He reminds us that there is no longer any such thing as an isolated conflict that governments and corporations can ignore with impunity." (New York Times)

More from the same

What listeners say about Blood Diamonds

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    133
  • 4 Stars
    81
  • 3 Stars
    42
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    99
  • 4 Stars
    49
  • 3 Stars
    24
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    108
  • 4 Stars
    39
  • 3 Stars
    24
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Diamonds are not for love

Any American lady who reads this book will no longer think that diamonds stand for love. They stand for hate and greed and mutilation.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Very bloody and very real.

This book is not really tracing the path of the conflict diamonds very far, it is describing the conflict and the politics involved in the civil war in and around Sierra Leone.

The book is very exiting to listen to since this book was written after "on location" research in the conflict zone.

The book is well written and it is not difficult to imagine the bloody details described in this book, like people having their hands chopped of by RUF rebels because the president had asked the population to hold hands and face the problems as a united country.

Highly recomended!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great inside look at the diamond industry

What did you like best about this story?

The detailed investigative journalism.

If you could give Blood Diamonds a new subtitle, what would it be?

Amputations live forever.

Any additional comments?

I made this purchase to learn more about Sierra Leone, it's civil war and the attitude sierra leoneians have about the industry that holds them in bondage. All of my questions were answered. I was pleasantly surprised by the detailed look into the history of the industry and the way it operates today. One of the most interesting parts of the book was about the connection between the 9/11 attacks and the diamond fields of Sierra Leone.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

An eye-opening read that will make you think twice

I wish that I had read this book sooner to warn me about the vicious brutality that has been perpetrated in Africa over diamond mining. It is sad how poorly regulated this industry is, and what a slick business the de Beers corporation has done to manipulate the market to keep prices artifically high and their pockets fat. I only have one diamond and I have to wonder if some poor soul had limbs hacked off over this tiny bit of rock. I am glad that I read this book because it has opened my eyes to the industry. If I ever buy another diamond it will be from the Canadian mines, cruelty free and from workers paid a decent wage.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding

This was a tragic and compelling story of a child soldier who experiences one tradedy after another, in which circumstance transforms him into a cold blooded killer. The story ripped at my heart strings and Beah's character saturates the story. I look forward to hearing more from this young author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Important Book, Needs Updating, Lacks Perspective

Blood Diamonds is an uneven book. It provides gripping and daring reporting on the crimes against humanity inflicted on Sierra Leonians in the late nineties. And it lays out a comprehensive view of the diamond trade and how it relates to Sierra Leone. But it paints a much less coherent picture of the politics of the country while failing to understand, much less depict, the United Nations intervention which helped bring the fighting to a close. All too often, this reader was left lost in the weeds and wanting to understand the bigger picture better. The author’s potshots at the U.N., which was in many cases protecting him, coupled with a failure to revise the book, which seems to have been written around 2002, did not help.

All in all, listen to this book if you want to understand the conflict in Sierra Leone, if only because it seems to be the only book on it that Audible has produced. Listen to it if you want to understand the looting of African resources, because, along with John Pendergrast’s better written and more focused Congo Stories, it is about the only book on the matter to be produced by Audible as well. Listen to it for its gripping stories. But it is not the best book for feeling into the pain and learning to empathize with the victims of crimes against humanity, though the author does try. Nor is it a good place to understand African politics or those of the region.

However much the overall book may suffer from some deficiencies, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, and page by page, it is a well written book on an important topic that can enrich your understanding of the world.

Theo Horesh, author of The Holocausts We All Deny

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

a diamond is forever

loved it very informative. The reading was easy to follow. I could not wait to read more i feel more educated after reading this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

People don't count when it come to big business .... Ruthless , Frightening what's happening for the sake of diamonds.. Leave item on the shelves..

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Heavy but necessary

It was tough, reading about all of the atrocities of the RUF in Sierra Leone. A necessary read nonetheless.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

"Diamonds are forever"

Infuriating and powerful. Greg Campbell's expose about blood diamonds was difficult to listen at parts, as the details of the horrific events that unfolded in Sierra Leone will give anyone nightmares.
Clear and concise, this is a book you should read and you most likely never purchase a diamond *ever* again.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!