Two tales of a city: The historical race to reach one of the world's most mythologized places, and the story of how a contemporary band of archivists and librarians, fighting to save its ancient manuscripts from destruction at the hands of al Qaeda, added another layer to the legend.
The thrilling story of how a band of librarians risked their lives in a secret operation to smuggle priceless ancient manuscripts out of Timbuktu as it became encircled by an army of violent Islamists, alongside the parallel story of early Victorian exploration of the African interior and the race to Timbuktu. Dating back to the 16th century, the libraries of Timbuktu are legendary - this was a city whose population is outnumbered ten to one by its books. Up until 2012, Abdel Kader Haidera was simply a bibliophile and custodian of the largest collections of these documents, which reveal the great sophistication of this history, formerly the heart of the two of the richest empires ever seen. But when Timbuktu was seized by Islamists, it became clear to him that this vast treasure trove of ancient civilisation would be destroyed - as the world has seen in in the manner of Palmyra - unless he could smuggle it out of the city for safe hiding. In an extraordinary operation, worthy of a John Le Carre novel, Hadeira and his cohorts managed to safeguard almost the entire collection of over a half a million documents - in effect, the history of an entire civilisation. Even back in the 18th and 19th century, European intellectuals asked: What was Timbuktu? Did this storied place, as alluring and elusive as El Dorado, really exist? What mysteries did it hold? Alongside the story of Haidara´s efforts to save Timbuktu´s heritage from destruction, Charlie English tells the riveting story of the European and American explorers who raced to reach Timbuktu, to try to discover what they believed was the mysterious capital of a remote but intensely rich African kingdom. English brings to life the excesses and the courage of these men who crossed continents on camels whose chances of survival in this ´white man´s graveyard´ was considerably less than those who fought in the first days of the Battle of the Somme. Told in tandem, each story works to weave together the rich and fraught history of Timbuktu, and how its 2012 conflict threatened to wipe out this vital legacy.
