Joshua Hammer is the New York Times bestselling author of The Bad-Ass Librarians. He has written for The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Smithsonian, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, National Geographic, and Outside. He lives in Berlin.
**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 fate of the world, The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu is
a must-read, and a welcome shot 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*
“This book is a particularly adventurous and impressive example of
the fact that, even with time, water, fire, mold, and termites,
humanity remains the greatest threat to books and our literary,
historical, and creative heritage.”
*San Francisco Chronicle*
"While the destructive acts of Islamic extremists worldwide capture
headlines, countless stories of heroic resistance rarely receive
attention. Award-winning journalist Hammer shines a light on one
such episode of bravery and defiance. . . . Bad-Ass Librarians is a
rousing salute to ordinary civilians who make a stand to preserve
cultural heritage against all odds."
*Discover Magazine*
"Hammer tells the dramatic story of how, during the period of
Islamist rule, a group of Timbuktu residents saved some 350,000
ancient manuscripts that had resided in the city since its medieval
heyday as a great center of learning and scholarship. . . . In
addition to weaving a great yarn, Hammer also provides a
fascinating history of Timbuktu and its books and a well-informed
account of the struggle against Islamist extremism in the
Sahel."
*Foreign Affairs Magazine*
“There are nail-biting moments when everything hangs in the balance
[and] one can almost imagine the movie version. . . .
Excellent.”
*Dallas Morning News*
"Gripping. . . . The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu tells the tale
of how a gutsy collector saved thousands of documents. . . . It was
only because of Abdel Kader Haidara and a group of brave librarians
that these manuscripts about poetry, music, sex, and science did
not end lost in the desert or up in smoke."
*Salon*
“On one level, The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu is a thriller
that revolves around one long chase scene, as librarian race
through the deserts of Mali trying to salvage a trove of precious
manuscripts from jihadists hell-bent on their destruction. The
stakes in this chase are no less than civilization itself. On
another level, Joshua Hammer’s book is about a struggle between
Islamic ideologies—one jihadist, inflexible and violent, and the
other open and intellectual. Joshua Hammer’s book could not be more
relevant to today’s events.”
*Barbara Demick, author of Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives in North
Korea*
“Hammer crafts a thoughtful history of the Middle East and Africa
in a narrative that goes beyond the one- and two-dimensional views
that are popular today [and] provides a geopolitical explainer that
gives context to the development of radical Islam. . . . The book’s
title isn’t overstated. Haidara, and those who aided him, truly are
‘bad-ass.’”
*Fort Worth Star-Telegram*
“The sources of Timbuktu’s vitality—the connections to travel and
trade that once made it a meeting place for West Africans and a
haven for writing and learning—have been destroyed, and Hammer’s
book, to its great credit, makes us see what a loss that is.”
*New York Review of Books*
"Hammer does a service to Haidara and the Islamic faith by
providing the illuminating history of these manuscripts, managing
to weave the complicated threads of this recent segment of history
into a thrilling story."
*Publishers Weekly*
"[A] vivid, fast-paced narrative. . . . Hammer draws on many—often
dangerous—visits to the city and interviews with major players to
chronicle the efforts of Abdel Kader Haidara to save priceless
literary and historical manuscripts. . . . A chilling portrait of a
country under siege and one man's defiance."
*Kirkus Reviews*
“At once a history, caper and thriller.”
*The Economist*
“A jaunty gem of a book.... The greatest merit of The Bad-Ass
Librarians of Timbuktu is that it convincingly repudiates extremist
Islamism at the quotidian level, at which it does not pose a global
threat: it is objectionable not just because it imperils
Westerners, their friends and the existing political order, but
also because it is socially and intellectually retrograde, and
abusive of the people it purports to protect.”
*Survival (International Institute for Strategic Studies)*
“As precarious and fraught with obstacles as any Hollywood heist. .
. . Both a moving story of quiet heroism and a fascinating glimpse
into a country little-known in the U.S., The Bad-Ass Librarians of
Timbuktu will appeal to historians, bibliophiles and those who love
a good heist narrative.”
*Shelf Awareness*
“Illuminating reading.”
*Booklist*
“An engaging, well-plotted historical adventure that will appeal to
history and book lovers.”
*Pittsburgh Post-Gazette*
"Engrossing. . . . To call this book a page-turner is to diminish
it; the suspense that Hammer creates is vital, but it’s his shrewd
reporting on cultural terrorism--and those who fought against
it--that makes The Bad-Ass Librarians so important. No book lover
should miss it."
*Fine Books & Collections Magazine*
“Hammer gives the badass librarians of Timbuktu—who outwitted
al-Qaeda, saving ancient Arabic texts from being destroyed—their
due.”
*Vanity Fair*
“An engrossing tale, complete with a dangerous smuggling
operation.”
*Bustle (Best Books of April)*
“[A] powerful narrative. . . . Hammer’s clearly written and
engaging chronicle of the achievements of Timbuktu, the risks
presented to this area, and portraits of several brave and
dedicated individuals brings to light an important and unfamiliar
story.”
*Library Journal*
"Gripping."
*Houston Chronicle*
"Hammer exposed my ignorance. Without thinking about it, I had
accepted the conventional wisdom . . . but The Bad-Ass Librarians
of Timbuktu provides irrefutable evidence that culture and learning
in Africa were far more advanced than in Europe by the 16th century
when Timbuktu flourished as a center of learning."
*Washington Independent Review of Books*
"Journalist Josh Hammer deftly offers up a string of interconnected
tales, ranging from ancient Islamic scholarship to in-fighting in
US political circles to French military campaigns and the rise of
radical extremists throughout Africa. . . . But always front and
center is the fate of these manuscripts and how their very
existence puts a lie to the hateful extremism fueling the
terrorists who would destroy them. Librarians are always bad-ass
but even the most hardcore would have to tip their hats to the
brave ones depicted here."
*BookFilter*
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