Overview

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 farmers. His goal was to preserve this crucial part of the world's patrimony in a gorgeous library. But then Al Qaeda showed up at the door.The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu tells the incredible story of how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist and historian from the legendary city of Timbuktu, became one of the world's greatest and most brazen smugglers by saving the texts from sure destruction. With bravery and patience, he organized a dangerous operation to sneak all 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali. This real-life thriller is a reminder that ordinary citizens often do the most to protect the beauty and imagination of their culture. It is also the story of a man who, through extreme circumstances, discovered his higher calling and was changed forever by it.

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9781665150279

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Has all the elements of a classic adventure novel...Riveting skullduggery, revealing history, and current affairs combine in a compelling narrative with a rare happy ending. -- Seattle Times History depends on whose stories get told and which books survive; in Timbuktu, thanks to Haidara and his associates, inquiry, humanity, and courage live on in the libraries. -- Boston Globe Part history, part scholarly adventure story, and part journalist survey of the volatile religious politics of the Maghreb region...Hammer writes with verve and expertise. -- New York Times Book Review

Author Information

Joshua Hammer is the author of the bestselling The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, as well as The Kalinka Affair, Yokohama Burning, and A Season in Bethlehem, among others. He is a contributing editor to Smithsonian and Outside, is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, and has written for publications including the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Smithsonian, Atlantic, New Yorker, and National Geographic. He was born in New York and graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in English literature. He has won numerous journalism awards. Read by Paul Boehmer, Gabrielle de Cuir, Carrington MacDuffie, Stefan Rudnicki, Emily Janice Card, Ellen Datlow, Bob Duncan, Dan Jenkins, Richard Lim, Margie Moore, Scott Peterson, Tom Schiff, Mirron Willis, Judy Young, David Birney, Rosalyn Landor, and Arte Johnson

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