The Last Empire: De Beers, Diamonds, and the World

by Stefan Kanfer

"Timely corporate history--as exciting and poignant as any good tale of derring-do against great odds by all-too-flawed giants. " - Kirkus Reviews With a scholar's precision and a novelist's eye, Stefan Kanfer tells the inside story of De Beers Consolidated Mines - from the nineteenth century diamond rush that transformed Johannes De Beer's humble South African farm into an exotic klondike, to the Oppenheimers' shadow empire that has achieved umatched global reach.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Africa, Business

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Stefan Kanfer is the author of fifteen books, including the bestselling biographies of show business icons: GROUCHO; BALL OF FIRE (Lucille Ball); SOMEBODY (Marlon Brando); and TOUGH WITHOUT A GUN (Humphrey Bogart). He has also written many social histories, among them THE LAST EMPIRE, about the De Beers diamond company, and STARDUST LOST, an account of the rise and fall of the Yiddish Theater in New York.

Kanfer also wrote two novels about World War II and served as the only journalist on the President’s Commission on the Holocaust. He was the first by-lined cinema critic for Time magazine, where he worked as writer and editor for more than two decades. He has been given many writing awards and was named a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library. He lives in New York where he serves as a columnist for the City Journal of the Manhattan Institute.

Reviews

[GoldGato · Rating 4 out of 5]

In focusing upon the diamond and gold industries of South Africa, this book also tackles the repercussions that came about and a general history of the land itself. De Beers is the prominent centrepoint but it’s also a revealing story of South Africa’s social world and how money influenced the evolution of apartheid.

It all began in 1867 with the discovery of diamonds on a farm owned by the de Beer family, near Kimberley. Two huge mines were developed and thousands staked claims as prospectors from all over the globe rushed to South Africa to dig for their own dreams. Eventually, Cecil Rhodes bought up all the various claims and formed the de Beers syndicate, effectively controlling the output of diamonds and their sales. After the demise of Rhodes, the Oppenheimer family moved in and took control of de Beers while also building up the gold mining industry of South Africa. The Oppenheimers take centre stage in this history as they were/are the real power behind South Africa’s economic development of the 20th-century.

”…every ounce of gold taken from the bowels of our soil will yet have to be weighed up with rivers of tears.” (Paul Kruger)

Stefan Kanfer really put the work into this book. The beginning of the mining history brings in biographies of several different trailblazers, which boggled my mind. I knew of Rhodes and Oppenheimer but the others were a good history lesson. Also clearly laid out is the development of the way the non-native Europeans started to view the native Africans. In the beginning, Africans were digging for their own and/or getting paid well to dig for others. That all changed as the ruling whites saw a way to completely control the economy and their own privileges. Soon the natives were moved off their lands and segregated and South Africa became really nasty.

I particularly loved the calling-out of the hypocrisy of all the other nations, who condemned South Africa publicly but traded for diamonds and gold clandestinely. The Soviets were especial assholes. Then there’s the story of Oppenheimer so focused on controlling diamonds that during WWII, de Beers refused President Roosevelt’s request for diamonds for industrial machinery. No problem. FDR told Winston Churchill, hey…no diamonds, no planes. After Churchill pressured de Beers and South Africa itself, the diamonds were sent. But when a lode of diamonds was discovered in Arkansas, Oppenheimer used sabotage to ensure the United States could not export the gems and therefore hurt de Beers.

Overall, a very good book about diamonds and gold and the ugliness of the economic development of South Africa.

Book Season = Summer (unexpected plagues)

[Cory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, the diamond industry is run by a cartel. A bit of a slow read through the history, but interesting nonetheless.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

To get a sense of how harrowing the diamond industry was in pillaging South Africa, this book lays it out in gritty detail.

[Marks54 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I needed to familiarize myself with the current state of De Beers and so I reread Kanfer’s book. I will stick with what I thought the first time. The story of how the firm arose and gained global dominance is a good one. People can talked easily about cartels and monopoly but De Beers’ history shows it to be something of an exemplar for showing how a cartel works.

However, every part of the story behind De Beers and its success is in motion and the conditions supporting the cartel and its prosperity have been constantly shifting. More diamonds have been discovered by more actors. The political conditions of the 20th century have gone, including the British Empire and the Cold War. South Africa went through a revolution and the norms regarding race relations, employee-management relations, shareholder governance, and business-government relations have all changed in how they influence De Beers. So it is not surprising to see how the firm has gone through major strategic changes and reconfigured itself to succeed in changed conditions. That makes the understanding of how De Beers works as a business even more important today. Kanfer’s book lacked this emphasis but it remains a great account of the formation of what is arguably one of the most distinctive firms of the 20th century.

With that in mind, the original review follows.

This is a history of De Beers, the South African company that literally created and maintained the world diamond industry. The early history of the firm under Cecil Rhodes is a great story, as is the development of the modern De Beers and the worldwide cartel under the leadership of the Oppenheimer family. Much detail is provided about the firm, the mining and processing of diamonds, and the political struggles of De Beers. How the cartel actually worked as an economic unit deserved more detail. A reader today would want to know about the history of the firm in adapting to a post-apartheid world, but the book remains valuable for the history of De Beers.

[Dan Cohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, especially the early sections about the "big hole" at Kimberley and the coverage of Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato. The later sections of the book are far less cutting and read like an authorised and sanitised history of the Oppenheimers.

[Greynomad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to say the least…..control, control control

[courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

the scoop on diamonds