Blood from a Stone: The Quest for the Life Diamonds

By Richard Hammer and Yaron Svoray

Book Overview

The incredible, true story of an extraordinary modern-day quest for forty diamonds hidden almost half a century ago. The unbelievable story of these diamonds -- confiscated from Jews at Nazi death camps, stolen by SS officers, and then buried in a foxhole by two American soldiers -- is the subject of one of the most ambitious documentaries ever produced by The History Channel. A curse is believed to lie over the fabulous wealth of these stones, bringing death and disaster to all who touch them. Yet men have searched for them and dreamed of them for a generation. Yaron Svoray first heard about the diamonds one evening in Bangor, Maine, and spent more than a decade in search of one small foxhole somewhere in a thousand square miles of forest... sBlood from a Stone tells a story unlike any to come out of World War II and features more than a dozen exclusive photos from the two-hour History Channel documentary. Book jacket.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765307960
• ISBN13: 9780765307965
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Forge Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

blood from a stone

Blood from a stone is an amazing story that, gives the reader great insight to the mindset of our American fighting soldier during World War II as well as the inner workings of the children and secret workers of the holocaust. There is no doubt that this part of the novel leaves a lingering effect on the reader. The novel provides a large amount of history behind the diamond trade spanning from India to Africa and a fairly good account of the death camps throughout the Third Reich's empire. Bar none the most well written part of the book is Sam Nyer's recollections of his experiences throughout the war, to include, finding the diamonds with his partner Tommy Delion and hiding them. After this, the book becomes a billboard.A critical reader will notice that the two major diversions from the story read more like an advertisement for Svoray's two other books, than an absolute nessisity(?)to the featured story I found myself under the intense urge to skip ahead--but i didn't, for fear of missing something. The novel reads more like an autobiography of Yaron Svoray than an all-out, hollywoodesque treasure hunt at times, and it borders on killing the readers interest, but the story does prevail. I bought this book immediatley after watching the special on the History Channel and am very pleased that i did. It is truly the treasure hunt of the 20th century.

really good

This book is really good and interesting.The first time i read the back i was hooked.I had to know what happened.I also loved the documentary of it on the History channel.Get this book it is worth your time!!