Review
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**New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice**
“This is, simply, a fantastic story, one that has been
beautifully told by Josh Hammer, who knows and loves Mali like
some farmers know their back forty. At a time of unprecedented
cultural destruction taking place across the Muslim world, Abdel
Kader Haidara, the savior of Timbuktu's ancient manuscripts and
this book's main character, is a true hero. If you are feeling
despair about the e of the world, The Bad-Ass Librarians of
Timbuktu is a must-read, and a welcome in the arm.” (Jon Lee
Anderson, author of The Fall of Baghdad)
“[The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu] has all the elements of a
classic adventure novel [and] it is a story that couldn’t be more
timely. . . . Suffice it to say that [the librarians] earn their
“bad ass” sobriquet several times over. Riveting skullduggery,
revealing history and current affairs combine in a compelling
narrative with a rare happy ending.” (Seattle Times)
“The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu . . . vividly captures the
history and strangeness of [Timbuktu] in a fast-paced narrative
that gets us behind today’s headlines of war and terror. This is
part reportage and travelogue . . . part intellectual history,
part geopolitical tract and part out-and-out thriller."
(Washington Post)
“I’ve long known that the versatile Joshua Hammer could drop into
the midst of a war or political conflict anywhere in the world
and make sense of it. But he has outdone himself this time, and
found an extraordinary, moving story of a quiet—and
successful—act of great bravery in the face of destructive
fanaticism.” (Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost and
To End All Wars)
“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)
"A picaresque and mysterious adventure that rushes across the
strife-torn landscape of today’s Mali, The Bad-Ass Librarians
tells the unlikely but very real story of a band of bookish
heroes from Timbuktu and their desperate race—past dangerous
checkpoints, through deserts, and often in the dead of night—to
save a culture and a civilization from destruction. Josh Hammer
has seen firsthand how ordinary people can respond with
extraordinary heroism when faced with evil. He also gives us a
dramatic example of what it means to stick with a story; he knows
this one from the beginnings in the late 1300s up until the
present day, with its extremism and acts of cultural repression
and erasure. Hammer has an unerring sense of what matters and his
storytelling is impassioned and fun at the same time." (Amy
Wilentz, author of Farewell, Fred Voodoo)
"Gripping [and] ultimately moving. . . . 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)
"A completely engrossing adventure with a sharp--and
prescient--political edge. Josh Hammer, a veteran correspondent
of numerous conflict zones, tells a fascinating story about the
quest to save Timbuktu’s priceless Islamic writings from the
grasp of jihadists. This is an entertaining, and extremely
timely, book about the value of art and history and the excesses
of religious extremism." (Janet Reitman, author of Inside
Scientology)
“Hammer has pulled off the truly remarkable here—a book that is
both important and a delight to read. The Bad-Ass Librarians of
Timbuktu is the wonderfully gripping story of Abdel Kader Haidara
and the hundreds of ordinary Malians who, at great personal
danger, endeavored to save the ancient fabled manuscripts of
Timbuktu from destruction by Islamic jihadists. It is also an
inspirational reminder that, even as the forces of barbarism
extend their thrall across so much of the Muslim world, there are
still those willing to risk everything to preserve civilization.
A superb rendering of a story that needs to be told.” (Scott
Anderson, author of Lawrence in Arabia)
About the Author
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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.