What does the diamond trade, with its idiosyncratic business practices and strong code of conduct, look like to an anthropologist? The fascinating answer to that question can be found in Renée Rose Shield’s Diamond Stories: Enduring Change on 47th Street, published by Cornell University Press. The book covers everything from the history of the trade to its current controversies and changes, and it even tackles the age-old question: Why do diamond dealers seem so nervous all the time? Shield is a particularly well-suited guide for this task, as she is both a Brown University professor and the niece of the late Moshe Kaufman, a widely respected diamond dealer.