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

A book of great immediacy, and an interesting vision of what shifts the retention of knowledge might have to sink to in the face of religious prejudice. Mr. Hammer has an essentially journalistic approach to his account of the period of history which passed in Mali a few years past. In the face of a very fundamentalist uprising against the government of the sub-Saharan state of Mali, the inhabitants of the famous city of Timbuktu were forced to flee, and smuggle their hoarded manuscripts, at the peril of their lives, or of personal mutilation. The prose is clear, and the escapes hairbreadth. So, it is compelling reading, and a cautionary tale in an age of increasing tendencies towards theocracy in Europe and the Americas.

A fairly compelling narrative of events about... well, bad-ass librarians. Got that part right. It is heavily contextualized by a history of the cultural and political events of the time. Although many readers seem less than happy about that, they also admit to not knowing most of it, so, I think the long explanations are justified. Personally I never mind being tricked into learning something; moreover, I'm grateful for a good explanation of something that happened within my lifetime that I didn't really follow as it was happening.

The title of this book is misleading. As much, if not more, of Joshua Hammer's book is about the rise of radical Islamism in northern Mali as it is about the manuscripts of Timbuktu and their preservation. I appreciate the necessity of providing context as to why the manuscripts were threatened in the first place, and the difficulty of interviewing many of the people who were involved in the rescue operation—after all, why talk to a western reporter if you know that's going to draw the attention of Al-Qaeda to you?

But the fact that even the plural in the title (librarians) was a bit misleading got frustrating—only one librarian, Abdel Kader Haidara, is interviewed or discussed in any depth, and only perhaps one other, to my show more recollection, interviewed at all. Surely there are other employees of the Ahmed Baba Institute or the Mamma Haidara Library with fascinating stories to tell? Or members of the families of Timbuktu who had safeguarded the manuscripts for generations? A single Malian woman?

If you want to read a book on the manuscripts of Timbuktu, I'd recommend Charlie English's more nuanced The Storied City: The Quest for Timbuktu and the Fantastic Mission to Save Its Past instead. show less

Some days I just feel like screaming.

Reading Joshua Hammer's story about how Abel Kadeem Haidara risked life and limb to save hundreds of thousands of books and manuscripts from destruction at the hands of Al Qaeda operatives is one of those stories that just stops me in my tracks.

Haidara follows in the steps of his near mythical father in finding, fixing, cataloguing, and preserving Arabic books and manuscripts which reach back into the early days of Islam and the origins of Empire in West Central Africa.

And when the collection appears threatened by an Arabist coup, he takes matters into his own hands by coopting friends and family to move the collection to a safe haven.

That such world treasures are at risk boils my blood. Reading as show more Haidara has to resort to bribes to protect the collection drives me to the edge. These people ought to get on their knees and thank the man, not threaten him with extinction.

"Skip" Gates plays a cameo in this story as an important link to the west and western foundations for protecting the heritage.

Equally as valuable in this story are the close-up portraits of the jihadis who take over Timbuktu with their own brand of Salafist Islam. That each of the leaders has a unique personal, sometimes political or cultural agenda shouldn't come as a surprise. History and colonialism plays as big a role in this story as the Islamist revivals.

Here we have principally Sunni financing with a little kidnapping, drug running, sabotage, and smuggling mixed in for good measure. All elements that we see playing themselves out in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen.

And there is the settling of scores aplenty.

This is a near lawless part of the world. I don't see how you separate out religion from domestic corruption and centuries of tribal behaviours.

I don't live in one of these hot, dangerous places but if I did I'd probably keep my head low. show less

Very good book, and a good one to read. The librarian(s) are, indeed, badass, but I had to ding the for one thing, perhaps unfairly: the librarian angle of the title only takes up less than a third of the text. The overwhelming bulk is about both the north African history with Islam and the rise of Al Qaeda. Both topics are interesting and important but aren't directly related to what is expected from the title.

Great book though.

Bad-Ass is the appropriate adjective here, wow.

In a story that's only a moment from being current events, learn about the improbable yet actually true story of how Abdel Kader Haidera rescued ~95% of Timbuktu's precious manuscripts (hundreds of thousands of volumes) from destruction by jihadis. Haidera's bad-assery begins long before occupation of Mali by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM) as a young man, searching out manuscripts in dusty villages and landing overseas grants to build state-of-the-art restoration facilities.

I'll be honest- before this book, I was only dimly aware of how much math, science, and culture were generated in medieval MENA beyond it existing, but wow. The vibrant literature and depth make it *that* much show more more irritating when I come across online comments implying all Islam "encourages followers to kill as many people as possible" or are backwards in some way- that'd be like assuming all of Christianity is similar to how a sect like Westboro Baptist behaves.

A very timely read, and definitely does it's job of a) highlighting Haidera as the bad-ass librarian he is, b) informing Western readers like me about these cultural gems in need of preservation, and c) pointing out again that the main victims of radical Islamic terror are Muslims, so as much as people handwring here over locking international doors out of safety concerns, our fears are pale in comparison to the threat of mutilation, death, and cultural destruction MENA citizens face daily. The only thing I found lacking was pictures of manuscripts- I understand they're in storage, but descriptions only go so far! show less

The book concentrated more on the military and political situation in Mali than on the books. Violence level high. Now if the subtitle had been 'and the fight to save Mali from radical Islamists' that would have been fine. But I expected more about the librarians and much more about the books.