The Manuscripts of Timbuktu

For centuries, Timbuktu, the city of legends, was the focus of Western fantasies about the "dark continent" of Africa. From the late 18th century onwards, a series of European explorers, caught up in the fervor to "discover" this "distant" land and its treasures, which were believed to be an earthly paradise, set out on expeditions to reach the city. However, expedition after expedition failed due to attacks, harsh climatic conditions, and diseases.

The "discovery" eventually happened, and Timbuktu was indeed found to have treasures: the city was a center of learning in the Middle Ages, and its libraries were filled with tens of thousands of manuscripts on countless subjects, from religion to poetry, law to history, pharmacology to astronomy.

In his compelling book, based on extensive research and direct interviews, Charlie English intertwines this two-hundred-year story of "discovery" with another, more recent event: the entry of Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists into Mali in 2012 and the daring escape of thousands of priceless manuscripts from Timbuktu by a group of intrepid librarians and archivists, saving them from destruction.

"A kind of postmodern historiography executed with extraordinary finesse and skill."