The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts

To save ancient Arabic texts from Al Qaeda, a band of librarians pulls off a brazen heist worthy of Oceanâ€™s Eleven in this â€œfast-paced narrative that isâ€¦part intellectual history, part geopolitical tract, and part out-and-out thrillerâ€ (The Washington Post).

In the 1980s, a young adventurer and collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River, tracking down and salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts that were crumbling in the trunks of desert shepherds. His goal: to preserve this crucial part of the worldâ€™s patrimony in a gorgeous library. But then Al Qaeda showed up at the door.

â€œPart history, part scholarly adventure story, and part journalist surveyâ€¦.Joshua Hammer writes with verve and expertiseâ€ (The New York Times Book Review) about how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist from the legendary city of Timbuktu, became one of the worldâ€™s greatest smugglers by saving the texts from sure destruction. With bravery and patience, Haidara organized a dangerous operation to sneak all 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali. His heroic heist â€œhas all the elements of a classic adventure novelâ€ (The Seattle Times), and is a reminder that ordinary citizens often do the most to protect the beauty of their culture. His the story is one of a man who, through extreme circumstances, discovered his higher calling and was changed forever by it.
Country USA
Manufacturer Simon & Schuster
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2016-04-19
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Simon & Schuster
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2016-04-19
Format	Kindle eBook

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts

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