Authors: Joshua Hammer
Genres: history, African history, library history, non-fiction
This book gives new meaning to the phrase, “from here to Timbuktu.”
Yes, Timbuktu is a real place but for many people it’s a fictional place only
ever mentioned in a saying about far journeys to mystical places. Between the 13th
and 16th centuries, Timbuktu, located in Mali, Africa, was a
thriving, cosmopolitan city inhabited by the intellectuals of western Africa. Unfortunately,
the written knowledge of Timbuktu has been threatened over the centuries by
various invaders and political instability, prompting the Malians to hide their
heritage throughout the country. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu
chronicles Abdel Kader Haidara’s decade-long journey to finance and furbish the
Ahmed Baba Institute (one of Timbuktu’s many libraries) with manuscripts only
to have his hard work and the history of Timbuktu threatened by al-Qaeda extremists.
Knowing al-Qaeda’s history of destroying cultural sites and artifacts, Haidara
carefully orchestrated a rescue mission involving 350,000 manuscripts, numerous
metal footlockers, boats, trucks, bribe money, and a network of Malians willing
to rebel quietly against religious extremists.
