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

4.1 out of 5 stars 1,542

**New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice**

To save ancient Arabic texts from Al Qaeda, a band of librarians pulls off a brazen heist worthy of Ocean’s Eleven in this “fast-paced narrative that is…part intellectual history, part geopolitical tract, and part out-and-out thriller” (The Washington Post) from the author of The Falcon Thief.

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: preserve this crucial part of the world’s patrimony in a gorgeous library. But then Al Qaeda showed up at the door.

“Part history, part scholarly adventure story, and part journalist survey…Joshua Hammer writes with verve and expertise” (
The New York Times Book Review) 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 “has all the elements of a classic adventure novel” (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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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"

"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"

About the Author

Joshua Hammer is the New York Times bestselling author of The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu. He has written for The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Smithsonian, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, National Geographic, and Outside. He lives in Berlin.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B010MHA7C6
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (April 19, 2016)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 19, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 7111 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 289 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 1,542

About the author

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Joshua Hammer
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Joshua Hammer is a veteran foreign and war correspondent for Newsweek who has covered conflicts on four continents. He is the author of two previous books, A Season in Bethlehem and Chosen by God: A Brother's Journey. He has contributed articles to The New Yorker, Smithsonian, and many other publications. He lives in Cape Town, South Africa, with his wife and two sons.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
1,542 global ratings
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Really interesting! I read it as part of a book club and I’m happy to have read it.I got the paperback book and it has survived multiple trips, including to the beach. Great quality.
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2016
If you enjoy the music of Ali Farka Toure and other musical artists from Mali (West Africa) you will enjoy this book. If you are a librarian, particularly working with special collection, you will appreciate this non-fiction account of Abdel Kader Haidara's life long vocation to collect and preserve ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts.

In the first part of the book, Haidara begins his life long effort to collect ancient Islamic manuscripts from the collections of individual families in Mali. Owned personally for generations of Malian families these manuscripts faced destruction from insects, sand, heat and moisture. Haidara obtained donations from Western governments and cultural institutions for the preservation in several new libraries in Timbuktu. If Haidara had only accomplished this initial feat, it would be a monumental life's work.

In addition to collecting and preserving the manuscripts against the elements, Haidara also acted nimbly to protect the manuscripts when the Northern Mali Conflict caused the radical fundamentalist Al Ansine and Al Qaeda in in the Maghreb to occupy Timbuktu and threaten the physical safety of the manuscripts.

The importance of the Timbuktu manuscripts lay in preserving for the world the work of enlightened, and peaceful Islamic and secular scholar.

The reader will find a riveting historical account of West African history culture and music that previously they may not have encountered.

While reading this book I made the effort to compile a publicly available Spotify playlist of the the musical artists and music from Mali mentioned in this history. I was inspired to do this because of his example in "Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty

Here is a product link:

https://www.amazon.com/Every-Song-Ever-Twenty-Musical-ebook/dp/B011I2MNRG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1463351133&sr=1-1&keywords=every+song+ever

Here is my review of the book:

https://www.amazon.com/review/R3C9R1D3H2171J/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B011I2MNRG

I also have a soundtrack/playlist for R. S. Batchelder's "Brotherhood of the Wheel". Here is a product link:

https://www.amazon.com/Brotherhood-Wheel-R-S-Belcher-ebook/dp/B013P25LIA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1463351393&sr=1-1&keywords=brotherhood+of+the+wheel

Here is my review of the book::
https://www.amazon.com/review/R5VWYYCWFPOW2/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B013P25LIA
4 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2021
During the Middle Ages, when Europe was experiencing an extended descent towards barbarism, Islamic scientists, philosophers, mathematicians, and poets played an important role in carrying the torch of knowledge and advancing intellectual discourse. Western history books tend to depict sub-Saharan Africa as a cultural blank slate until the modern era, but from the 13th to the 17th century the city of Timbuktu in the nation of Mali was a thriving center of Islamic learning and written scholarship. Prior to the printing press, ideas were disseminated through hand-copied manuscripts, usually written on parchment and often augmented by beautiful painted illustrations and elaborately decorated bindings.

In his 2016 book The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, journalist Joshua Hammer reveals that hundreds of thousands of these historic manuscripts have survived to the present day, mostly hidden in the homes of private citizens and passed down within families for generations. Hammer explains how in the last few decades cultural heritage organizations, and one dedicated librarian in particular, began collecting these manuscripts and transferring them to newly built libraries so they could be restored and preserved, thus making centuries-old texts newly accessible to contemporary scholars.

In this book, Hammer provides a revealing glimpse into Timbuktu’s centuries-old history as a center of learning, but he also gives the reader a vivid view of life in contemporary Mali. He meticulously charts the 21st-century rise of Islamic jihadism in North Africa, which poses a severe threat to the existence of these priceless artifacts. When a combined force of al-Qaeda militants and Tuareg rebels invaded northern Mali, Timbuktu was occupied by a jihadist government that instituted a brutally draconian form of Sharia law. Under this ultraconservative interpretation of Islam, the manuscripts were seen as immoral and targeted for destruction. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu tells the incredible and inspiring story of how a few brave Malian librarians, with the help of many local volunteers and international donors, managed to save hundreds of thousands of these medieval manuscripts by smuggling them out from under al-Qaeda’s nose.

If you are approaching this book as a bibliophile or lover of libraries, be forewarned that the majority of the story is about politics, terrorism, and military activity. The manuscripts themselves only feature prominently in the first few chapters of the book. Nevertheless, even though I’m not one to buy books on current political events, I found Hammer’s telling of this story captivating from beginning to end. He delves into a great deal of detail on Islamic terrorists and the formation of their various factions, but he does so in an articulate style that makes the history accessible and memorable even to news-challenged general readers. I learned quite a bit about Islam from this book, not just the negative aspects we see on the news, such as terrorism and war, but also the positive aspects of Islamic culture and the intellectual tradition of Islamic science, arts, and letters in African history. Hammer’s skillfully penned account delivers an eye-opening education amid a political thriller that will have you rooting for these unsung book-saving heroes.
7 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2024
Joshua Hammer has provided a rare glimpse into a fascinating and frightening period in Malian recent history, as well as a look back in time to the creation and preservation of the exquisite illuminated manuscripts that are the subjects of The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu. It is a worthy homage to the people who risked their lives to save these priceless documents. Highly recommended. I just wish he had included more than one photo of a manuscript page, and that at the very end of the book.

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Linda Martin
5.0 out of 5 stars The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts
Reviewed in France on May 24, 2023
Tout était bien
Ms. T. Johnson
5.0 out of 5 stars As described & delivered quick.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 30, 2022
It's a gift but i think she'll like it.
Eula Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars This is an interesting and fascinating book. It introduced ...
Reviewed in Canada on August 18, 2017
This is an interesting and fascinating book. It introduced me to many things about Africa that I never knew. As I have learned when speaking with very educated friends from Africa, they never were told, even in university, about "the golden age of Timbuktu" . Well worth reading the book, and
following the current news of Mali! EMS
Blueraven
4.0 out of 5 stars The desert is an open library
Reviewed in Spain on January 3, 2017
A book easy to read. Quite neutral about a very sensitive issue. You can feel the hot breeze of the desert reaching the old books stored in too of the line library. Thanks to those people who risked their lives hiding the books from "them".
Jon
4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting recent history
Reviewed in Australia on August 17, 2016
This book is a brilliant analysis of the recent history of Sub Saharan Africa and the school of terrorism which flourished in the region, set against the backdrop of a deeply personal story of cultural preservation.

It feels a little too agenda driven in places, and many flaws and errors are glossed over our ignored to drive the narrative, but nevertheless is a worthwhile read.
2 people found this helpful
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