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The Book Smugglers of Timbuktu

The Quest for this Storied City and the Race to Save Its Treasures
PaperbackPaperback
EUR19,50

Product description

'An exemplary work of investigative journalism that is also a wonderfully colourful book of history and travel' Observer, Book of the Year

'A piece of postmodern historiography of quite extraordinary sophistication and ingenuity... [written with] exceptional delicacy and restraint' TLS

The fabled city of Timbuktu has captured the Western imagination for centuries. The search for this 'African El Dorado' cost the lives of many explorers but Timbuktu is rich beyond its legends. Home to many thousands of ancient manuscripts on poetry, history, religion, law, pharmacology and astronomy, the city has been a centre of learning since medieval times.

When jihadists invaded Mali in 2012 threatening destruction to Timbuktu's libraries, a remarkable thing happened. A team of librarians and archivists joined forces to spirit the precious manuscripts into hiding. Based on new research and first-hand reporting, Charlie English expertly tells this story set in one of the world's most fascinating places, and the myths from which it has become inseparable.
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Details

ISBN/GTIN978-0-00-812665-0
Product TypePaperback
BindingPaperback
Publishing date17/05/2018
LanguageEnglish
Weight320 g
Article no.8892593
CatalogsZeitfracht
Data source no.180111943
Product groupBU360
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Author

Charlie English is the former head of international news at the Guardian. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and author of a previous book, The Snow Tourist, he first journey to African at nineteen, and has travelled widely there and elsewhere around the globe. He lives in London.

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