The bad-ass librarians of Timbuktu and their race to save the world's most precious manuscripts
Hammer, Joshua, 1957-2017
Book
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.
Main title:
Author:
Hammer, Joshua, 1957-, author
Work:
Imprint:
New York : Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2017.
Collation:
278 pages ; 22 cm
Notes:
Originally published: New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016.Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:
9781476777412 (pbk)
Dewey class:
025.8'2'096623
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
248399