Denim and diamonds

On any given day nearly half the world’s population is wearing blue jeans. This is entirely extraordinary. Yet there has never been a serious attempt to understand the causes, natu...

Hutton was one of many rough diamonds—‘men of great talent but no polish’—who offer an alternative model to ‘politeness’. These self-educated entrepreneurs add a new layer to our k...

Chapter 6 revisits the Priestley riots (1791) from the viewpoint of a victim, and finds causes concerning the wealth and power of rough diamonds. Birmingham’s print culture and att...

The book contains materials on the search for modern and buried alluvial and primary deposits of diamonds. Much attention is paid to prospecting testing of potentially diamondife...

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Few clothing items are as ubiquitous or as casual as blue jeans. Yet...

Reading and writing were cornerstones of the lives of self-educated rough diamonds like Hutton. He is a perfect example of the dreaded rising author, who wrote for money, without e...