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New World Notes - Valentine's Day Special: The Diamond Cartel
This week on New World Notes: radio program #206, February 14, from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m., host Kenneth Dowst commemorates Valentine's Day.
Our ironic salute to Valentine's Day features an expose of the worldwide diamond cartel (a.k.a. DeBeers). And of how a U.S. advertising agency--hired by the cartel to increase sales--invented and marketed the "tradition" of the diamond engagement ring. Plus a few ironic and/or kinky love songs by Tom Lehrer and The Kinks.
Lyn Gerry, of "Unwelcome Guests," reads from Edward Jay Epstein's article, "Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?" in Atlantic Magazine, February 1982. The article is available online.
Epstein's book on the subject, The Diamond Invention, also is available online. Recommended reading.