The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu

And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts
CD - unabridged
Audio (8 discs)
Product Number: DD24293
Released: Apr 19, 2016
Business Term: Purchase
ISBN: #9781681681429
Narrator/s: Paul Boehmer
Publisher: HighBridge Company
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Description

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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Author(s): Joshua Hammer
Genre: History

All formats/editions

eAudio
x-large
Author(s): Joshua Hammer
Narrator(s): Paul Boehmer
Genre: History
Product Number Z100103778
Released: Apr 19, 2016
Business Term: Purchase
Publisher: Highbridge Company
ISBN: #9781681681436
eBook
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Author(s): Joshua Hammer
Genre: History, Religion
Product Number EB00614617
Released: Apr 19, 2016
Business Term: 1 Year
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: #9781476777436

Professional reviews

"From the title, listeners might expect an action thriller featuring librarians who rescue the written heritage of Timbuktu from thieves-- and they'd be half right. Paul Boehmer reads this complex historical and journalistic account of Abdel Kader Haidara, archivist and chief protector of Timbuktu's priceless cultural heritage as he gathers together, into modern repositories, more than 350,000 Malian, Arabic, Timbuktu, and tribal manuscripts dating from the twelfth to the nineteenth century. While Boehmer's Arabic pronunciation sounds accurate to the Western ear, a native Saharan or Malian narrator would be better. When Islamic jihad arises in Mali, Haidara must find a way to protect the manuscripts from destruction. Boehmer powerfully delivers this chilling history of altruism, of survival in the face of religious fundamentalism. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine"

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