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The Storied City ─ The Quest for Timbuktu and the Fantastic Mission to Save Its Past
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The thrilling account of how a band of Malian librarians and archivists risked their lives to save priceless ancient manuscripts from destruction in al Qaeda–occupied Timbuktu, interwoven with the historical race to “discover” the much-mythologized city.
To Westerners, the name “Timbuktu” long conjured up a tantalizing paradise, an African El Dorado where even the slaves were rumored to wear gold. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, a series of explorers gripped by the fever for “discovery” tried repeatedly to reach the fabled city. But expedition after expedition went disastrously awry, succumbing to enslavement, attack, and disease, the natural hazards of the territory exacerbated by centuries of Christian-Muslim conflict and resistance to the European “Scramble for Africa.”
Timbuktu was rich—really rich—in another way too. An ancient center of learning, it was home to some tens of thousands—according to some, hundreds of thousands—of ancient manuscripts, on subjects ranging from religion and poetry to law and history. When al Qaeda-linked jihadists surged across Mali in 2012, threatening the existence of the manuscripts, an extraordinary thing happened: a team of librarians and archivists banded together to spirit the manuscripts into hiding.
Relying on extensive research and first-hand reporting, Charlie English expertly interweaves these two suspenseful strands—the race to Timbuktu and the riveting undercover mission to preserve its heritage—in a fraught and fascinating account of one of the planet's extraordinary places, and the mythologizing that has become inseparable from it.
To Westerners, the name “Timbuktu” long conjured up a tantalizing paradise, an African El Dorado where even the slaves were rumored to wear gold. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, a series of explorers gripped by the fever for “discovery” tried repeatedly to reach the fabled city. But expedition after expedition went disastrously awry, succumbing to enslavement, attack, and disease, the natural hazards of the territory exacerbated by centuries of Christian-Muslim conflict and resistance to the European “Scramble for Africa.”
Timbuktu was rich—really rich—in another way too. An ancient center of learning, it was home to some tens of thousands—according to some, hundreds of thousands—of ancient manuscripts, on subjects ranging from religion and poetry to law and history. When al Qaeda-linked jihadists surged across Mali in 2012, threatening the existence of the manuscripts, an extraordinary thing happened: a team of librarians and archivists banded together to spirit the manuscripts into hiding.
Relying on extensive research and first-hand reporting, Charlie English expertly interweaves these two suspenseful strands—the race to Timbuktu and the riveting undercover mission to preserve its heritage—in a fraught and fascinating account of one of the planet's extraordinary places, and the mythologizing that has become inseparable from it.
作者簡介
Charlie English?has held numerous positions at the?Guardian, most recently as head of international news. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the author of a previous book,?The Snow Tourist, he first journeyed to Africa, solo, at eighteen, and has traveled widely there and elsewhere around the globe. He lives in London with his family.
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