Joshua Hammer

Describes how a group of Timbuktu librarians enacted a daring plan to smuggle the city's great collection of rare Islamic manuscripts away from the threat of destruction at the hands of Al Qaeda militants to the safety of southern Mali.

And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu

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 world's patrimony in a gorgeous library. But then Al Qaeda showed up at the door. Joshua Hammer writes about how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist from the legendary city of Timbuktu, became one of the world'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 is a reminder that ordinary citizens often do the most to protect the beauty of their culture. His story is one of a man who, through extreme circumstances, discovered his higher calling and was changed forever by it.

And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts

altlovesbooks

The premise of this book seemed amazing, unfortunately the actual thing didn't deliver. While the beginning of the book was interesting as it covered Mali history and the origins of the manuscripts, around chapter 5 or so the book took a right turn into non sequitur land. The manuscripts were talked about less and less, and instead ended up with a not-so-brief regional instability history and much talk about terrorists and music(???). As an example, about halfway in, the book starts talking about a concert that Bono from U2 showed up at. I don't really know why. There was also pretty in-depth descriptions of hands and limbs being chopped off in chapter 13. I admit, I skipped that chapter once it was clear where it was going.

The actual book saving portions were interesting, and I wish the author had focused strictly on that. The book might have been shorter, but would have better fit the title.

Excellent! Informative and very great read 

Tammy Stelnicki

Jeni Enjaian

I really wanted to like this book. I really did. I found several of the sections absolutely fascinating but Hammer insisted on bouncing around chronologically so much so that I nearly got figurative reader whiplash. Hammer details incredibly important information. I just wish that someone else had done it because they likely would have done a much better job.

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

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