So Entertaining that it's Hard to Believe it's Non-Fiction

Binx20003 · Newbie Joined: 23 Jun 2006 Posts: 2 Gender:

Great new history book on the market!

I love a good historical read, and this book, I could not put down.

"Hope Diamond: The Legendary History of A Cursed Gem" by Richard Kurin.

This book is a page turner, much in the league with "The Da Vinci Code." Except, to the preference of many historians, the stories told in this book are all real!

Kurin's account of this celebrated gem (The Hope Diamond) measures its facts against the legends of its appeal. It's like an "Indiana Jones" adventure, as you walk in the footsteps of the Hope Diamond, following clues such as maps, old letters, dairies, and paintings to find out how the diamond went from the mines of India, to its present location at the Natural History Museum in Washington DC. It is truly, a Spellbinding Book.

Whether you believe in curses or not, this legendary blue diamond has intrigued people for centuries. The legend is said to have begun when a man named Tavernier stole the legendary blue gem from the eye of a statue in the image of the Hindu goddess Sita. While in Russia, after he had sold the diamond, accounts were rumored that Tavernier was torn apart by wild dogs. This was the first death attributed to the Hope's curse. Could this be possible?

The gem then fell into the hands of King Louis XIV who decided to cut the gem down to 67 carats. King Louis renamed the gem 'Blue diamond of the crown'. Legend goes, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were beheaded during the French Revolution because of the legendary blue curse. We know they were both beheaded, but did the 'curse' play a role? In 1791, the 'Blue diamond of the crown' was stolen. The blue diamond resurfaced in 1813 London, in the hands of jeweler Daniel Eliason. Around 1939, the blue diamond(now 44 carats) found its way into the hands of Henry Phillip Hope. According to the curse, the once-rich Hopes went bankrupt because of the legendary blue diamond. Is any of this true?

A few month's later, Evalyn McLean bought the Hope diamond. According to the legend, the curse was to strike her too. McLean's first born son, Vinson, died in a car crash when he was nine. McLean suffered another major loss when her daughter committed suicide at age 25. In addition to all this, Evalyn McLean's husband was declared insane and confined to a mental institution until his death in 1941. This is a lot for one person to suffer, could this be attributed to the curse?

Harry Winston, a New York jeweler, purchased the legendary blue in 1949. Was the curse broken? On November 10, 1958, the legendary blue diamond traveled in a brown box, by registered mail, and was met by a large group of people at the Smithsonian who celebrated its arrival. Winston donated the Hope diamond because he believed in creating a national jewel collection.

There are many great books that detail this remarkable gem, but what sets Kurin's apart, is that he focus' mainly on the proven facts of the legend. Could the gem have been found in an Indian Goddess? Are the horrible deaths of the owners true? Is the gem stolen in 1791, the same gem that resurfaced in 1813?

Richard Kurin answers all these and more. There are photos, paintings, illustrations, and cartoons interspersed in the text to help bring alive the history of the gem. Anyone who is fascinated by this, or any legend will enjoy this book.

A definitive A+ read!

Chris OConnor

Thanks for the suggestion. I moved this thread out of the BookTalk News & Development forum and into this forum where it belongs.


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