Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu
And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $21.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Paul Boehmer
-
By:
-
Joshua Hammer
About this listen
In the 1980s, a young adventurer and collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River, tracking down and salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts that had fallen into obscurity. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu tells the incredible story of how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist and historian from the legendary city of Timbuktu, later became one of the world's greatest and most brazen smugglers.
In 2012, thousands of Al Qaeda militants from northwest Africa seized control of most of Mali, including Timbuktu. They imposed Sharia law, chopped off the hands of accused thieves, stoned to death unmarried couples, and threatened to destroy the great manuscripts. As the militants tightened their control over Timbuktu, Haidara organized a dangerous operation to sneak all 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali.
Over the past 20 years, journalist Joshua Hammer visited Timbuktu numerous times and is uniquely qualified to tell the story of Haidara's heroic and ultimately successful effort to outwit Al Qaeda and preserve Mali's - and the world's - literary patrimony. Hammer explores the city's manuscript heritage and offers never-before-reported details about the militants' march into northwest Africa. But above all, The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu is an inspiring account of the victory of art and literature over extremism.
©2016 Joshua Hammer. Recorded by arrangement with Simon and Schuster, Inc. (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Disappearing Spoon
- And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
- By: Sam Kean
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reporter Sam Kean reveals the periodic table as it’s never been seen before. Not only is it one of man's crowning scientific achievements, it's also a treasure trove of stories of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession. The infectious tales and astounding details in The Disappearing Spoon follow carbon, neon, silicon, and gold as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, war, the arts, poison, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them.
-
-
Great Book, Great Narration, But...
- By Henny Button on 09-18-10
By: Sam Kean
-
Ancient African Kingdoms
- A Captivating Guide to Civilizations of Ancient Africa Such as the Land of Punt, Carthage, the Kingdom of Aksum, the Mali Empire, and the Kingdom of Kush
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Africa is the continent where the first humans were born. They explored the vast land and produced the first tools. And although we migrated from that continent, we never completely abandoned it. From the beginning of time, humans lived and worked in Africa, leaving evidence of their existence in the sands of the Sahara Desert and the valleys of the great rivers such as the Nile and the Niger.
-
-
A wealth of information about African history
- By Windchill-06 on 02-20-21
-
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters
- The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
- By: Jason Stearns
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the heart of Africa is Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations, that since 1996 has been wracked by a brutal and unstaunchable war in which millions have died. And yet, despite its epic proportions, it has received little sustained media attention. In this deeply reported book, Jason K. Stearns vividly tells the story of this misunderstood conflict through the experiences of those who engineered and perpetrated it.
-
-
First book I've found that explains DRC
- By Amazon Customer on 09-09-17
By: Jason Stearns
-
The Monuments Men
- Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History
- By: Robert M. Edsel, Bret Witter
- Narrated by: Jeremy Davidson
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Monuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture.
-
-
Interesting listen
- By Laurie on 12-22-09
By: Robert M. Edsel, and others
-
River of the Gods
- Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
- By: Candice Millard
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe—and extend their colonial empires.
-
-
Good book by Millard, narrator ruined it
- By Tally D Lykins on 05-25-22
By: Candice Millard
-
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
- By: Edward Gibbon
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 126 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here in a single volume is the entire, unabridged recording of Gibbon's masterpiece. Beginning in the second century A.D. at the apex of the Pax Romana, Gibbon traces the arc of decline and complete destruction through the centuries across Europe and the Mediterranean. It is a thrilling and cautionary tale of splendor and ruin, of faith and hubris, and of civilization and barbarism. Follow along as Christianity overcomes paganism... before itself coming under intense pressure from Islam.
-
-
Masterpiece - Best Audiobook I’ve Listened To
- By Student on 09-18-18
By: Edward Gibbon
-
The Disappearing Spoon
- And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
- By: Sam Kean
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reporter Sam Kean reveals the periodic table as it’s never been seen before. Not only is it one of man's crowning scientific achievements, it's also a treasure trove of stories of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession. The infectious tales and astounding details in The Disappearing Spoon follow carbon, neon, silicon, and gold as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, war, the arts, poison, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them.
-
-
Great Book, Great Narration, But...
- By Henny Button on 09-18-10
By: Sam Kean
-
Ancient African Kingdoms
- A Captivating Guide to Civilizations of Ancient Africa Such as the Land of Punt, Carthage, the Kingdom of Aksum, the Mali Empire, and the Kingdom of Kush
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Africa is the continent where the first humans were born. They explored the vast land and produced the first tools. And although we migrated from that continent, we never completely abandoned it. From the beginning of time, humans lived and worked in Africa, leaving evidence of their existence in the sands of the Sahara Desert and the valleys of the great rivers such as the Nile and the Niger.
-
-
A wealth of information about African history
- By Windchill-06 on 02-20-21
-
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters
- The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
- By: Jason Stearns
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the heart of Africa is Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations, that since 1996 has been wracked by a brutal and unstaunchable war in which millions have died. And yet, despite its epic proportions, it has received little sustained media attention. In this deeply reported book, Jason K. Stearns vividly tells the story of this misunderstood conflict through the experiences of those who engineered and perpetrated it.
-
-
First book I've found that explains DRC
- By Amazon Customer on 09-09-17
By: Jason Stearns
-
The Monuments Men
- Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History
- By: Robert M. Edsel, Bret Witter
- Narrated by: Jeremy Davidson
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Monuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture.
-
-
Interesting listen
- By Laurie on 12-22-09
By: Robert M. Edsel, and others
-
River of the Gods
- Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
- By: Candice Millard
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe—and extend their colonial empires.
-
-
Good book by Millard, narrator ruined it
- By Tally D Lykins on 05-25-22
By: Candice Millard
-
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
- By: Edward Gibbon
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 126 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here in a single volume is the entire, unabridged recording of Gibbon's masterpiece. Beginning in the second century A.D. at the apex of the Pax Romana, Gibbon traces the arc of decline and complete destruction through the centuries across Europe and the Mediterranean. It is a thrilling and cautionary tale of splendor and ruin, of faith and hubris, and of civilization and barbarism. Follow along as Christianity overcomes paganism... before itself coming under intense pressure from Islam.
-
-
Masterpiece - Best Audiobook I’ve Listened To
- By Student on 09-18-18
By: Edward Gibbon
-
To the Lighthouse
- By: Virginia Woolf
- Narrated by: Nicole Kidman
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To the Lighthouse is Virginia Woolf’s arresting analysis of domestic family life, centering on the Ramseys and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland in the early 1900s. Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge, Eyes Wide Shut), who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Woolf in the film adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel
The Hours, brings the impressionistic prose of this classic to vibrant life.
-
-
A book that will challenge you to think.
- By Kelly on 04-23-17
By: Virginia Woolf
-
On China
- By: Henry Kissinger
- Narrated by: Nicholas Hormann
- Length: 20 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this sweeping and insightful history, Henry Kissinger turns for the first time at book length to a country he has known intimately for decades and whose modern relations with the West he helped shape. On China illuminates the inner workings of Chinese diplomacy during such pivotal events as the initial encounters between China and tight line modern European powers, the formation and breakdown of the Sino-Soviet alliance, the Korean War, and Richard Nixon’s historic trip to Beijing.
-
-
Another History of China
- By Elton on 09-23-11
By: Henry Kissinger
-
Empire of the Summer Moon
- Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
- By: S. C. Gwynne
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son, Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.
-
-
Difficult to endure narrator
- By fowler on 12-21-19
By: S. C. Gwynne
-
The Lost Pianos of Siberia
- By: Sophy Roberts
- Narrated by: Catherine Bailey
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Siberia’s story is traditionally one of exiles, penal colonies, and unmarked graves. Yet also dotted throughout this remote land are pianos - grand instruments created during the boom years of the 19th century, as well as humble, Soviet-made uprights that found their way into equally modest homes. They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the westernizing influence of Catherine the Great, piano music has run through the country like blood. How these pianos traveled into this snow-bound wilderness is a testament to governors, adventurers, and exiles.
-
-
Interesting History; Boring Narration
- By SusieQmom on 09-14-20
By: Sophy Roberts
-
España
- A Brief History of Spain
- By: Giles Tremlett
- Narrated by: Luis Soto
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spain's position on Europe's southwestern corner has exposed it to cultural, political and actual winds blowing from all quadrants. Africa lies a mere nine miles to the south. The Mediterranean connects it to the civilisational currents of Phoenicians, Romans, Carthaginians and Byzantines as well as the Arabic lands of the Near East. Hordes from the Russian steppes were amongst the first to arrive. They would be followed by Visigoths, Arabs, Napoleonic armies and many more invaders and immigrants.
-
-
Junk
- By Don T. on 01-27-23
By: Giles Tremlett
-
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
- By: Jack Weatherford
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Jack Weatherford
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization.
-
-
Golden Horde/Platinum Listen
- By Cynthia on 12-11-13
By: Jack Weatherford
-
The Witness Wore Red
- The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice
- By: Rebecca Musser, M. Bridget Cook
- Narrated by: Rebecca Musser
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The revealing and inspiring memoir of a woman forced into polygamous marriage in FLDS Church and her brave struggle to protect others from the same fate. Rebecca Musser grew up in fear, concealing her family's polygamous lifestyle from the "dangerous" outside world. Covered head-to-toe in strict, modest clothing, she received a rigorous education at Alta Academy, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' school headed by Warren Jeffs.
-
-
Compelling and emotional read
- By Briley on 10-08-13
By: Rebecca Musser, and others
-
The Pioneers
- The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The number one New York Times best seller by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important chapter in the American story that's "as resonant today as ever" (The Wall Street Journal) - the settling of the Northwest Territory by courageous pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would define our country.
-
-
i would prefer david reading it
- By hooterwah on 05-07-19
By: David McCullough
-
The History of the Ancient World
- From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome
- By: Susan Wise Bauer
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the first volume in a bold new series that tells the stories of all peoples, connecting historical events from Europe to the Middle East to the far coast of China, while still giving weight to the characteristics of each country. Susan Wise Bauer provides both sweeping scope and vivid attention to the individual lives that give flesh to abstract assertions about human history. This narrative history employs the methods of "history from beneath" - literature, epic traditions, private letters, and accounts - to connect kings and leaders with the lives of those they ruled.
-
-
An Historic Achievement
- By Ellen S. Wilds on 04-25-14
By: Susan Wise Bauer
-
Histories
- By: Herodotus
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 27 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this, the first prose history in European civilization, Herodotus describes the growth of the Persian Empire with force, authority, and style. Perhaps most famously, the book tells the heroic tale of the Greeks' resistance to the vast invading force assembled by Xerxes, king of Persia. Here are not only the great battles - Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis - but also penetrating human insight and a powerful sense of epic destiny at work.
-
-
Best of Audible's "The Histories" by Herodotus
- By Emily on 07-19-16
By: Herodotus
-
The Looming Tower
- Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Lawrence Wright
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States.
-
-
Supremely thorough and interesting
- By Josh on 10-05-17
By: Lawrence Wright
-
The Templars
- The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1307, as they struggled to secure their last strongholds in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Templars fell afoul of the vindictive and impulsive king of France. On Friday, October 13, hundreds of brothers were arrested en masse, imprisoned, tortured, and disbanded amid accusations of lurid sexual misconduct and heresy. They were tried by the Vatican in secret proceedings. But were they heretics or victims of a ruthlessly repressive state?
-
-
Unexpected
- By Protogere on 10-30-17
By: Dan Jones
Related to this topic
-
No Good Men Among the Living
- America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes
- By: Anand Gopal
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a breathtaking chronicle, acclaimed journalist Anand Gopal traces in vivid detail the lives of three Afghans caught in America's war on terror. He follows a Taliban commander who rises from scrawny teenager to leading insurgent, a U.S.-backed warlord who uses the American military to gain personal wealth and power, and a village housewife trapped between the two sides who discovers the devastating cost of neutrality.
-
-
Outstanding book, remarkable narrator
- By captainramius on 04-05-19
By: Anand Gopal
-
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters
- The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
- By: Jason Stearns
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the heart of Africa is Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations, that since 1996 has been wracked by a brutal and unstaunchable war in which millions have died. And yet, despite its epic proportions, it has received little sustained media attention. In this deeply reported book, Jason K. Stearns vividly tells the story of this misunderstood conflict through the experiences of those who engineered and perpetrated it.
-
-
First book I've found that explains DRC
- By Amazon Customer on 09-09-17
By: Jason Stearns
-
The Last Refuge
- Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America's War in Arabia
- By: Gregory Johnsen
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Far from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States and al-Qaeda are fighting a clandestine war of drones and suicide bombers in an unforgiving corner of Arabia. The Last Refuge charts the rise, fall, and resurrection of al-Qaeda in Yemen over the last 30 years, detailing how a group that the United States once defeated has now become one of the world’s most dangerous threats. An expert on Yemen who has spent years on the ground there, Gregory D. Johnsen uses al-Qaeda’s Arabic battle notes to reconstruct their world as they take aim at the United States and its allies.
-
-
bin laden.
- By Rhea on 07-15-13
By: Gregory Johnsen
-
The Burning Shores
- Inside the Battle for the New Libya
- By: Frederic Wehrey
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The death of Colonel Muammar Qadhafi freed Libya from 42 years of despotic rule, raising hopes for a new era. But in the aftermath, the country descended into bitter rivalries and civil war, paving the way for the Islamic State and a catastrophic migrant crisis. In a fast-paced narrative that blends frontline reporting, analysis, and history, Frederic Wehrey tells the story of what went wrong.
-
-
amazing yet painful book
- By Ghassan Tranesh on 09-20-18
By: Frederic Wehrey
-
The Siege of Mecca
- The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine & the Birth of Al-Qaeda
- By: Yaroslav Trofimov
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On November 20, 1979, worldwide attention was focused on Tehran, where the Iranian hostage crisis was entering its third week. The same morning, the first of a new Muslim century, hundreds of gunmen stunned the world by seizing Islam's holiest shrine, the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Armed with rifles that they had smuggled inside coffins, these men came from more than a dozen countries, launching the first operation of global jihad in modern times.
-
-
"The Siege" - A Review
- By Mitch Emswiller on 05-31-08
-
Night Draws Near
- Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War
- By: Anthony Shadid
- Narrated by: Anthony Shadid
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Determined to offer an unfiltered version of events, the Washington Post's Anthony Shadid was neither embedded with soldiers nor briefed by politicians. Because he is fluent in Arabic, Shadid, an Arab-American born and raised in Oklahoma, was able to actually disappear into the divided, dangerous worlds of Iraq. Day by day, as American dreams clashed with Arab notions of justice, he pieced together the human story of ordinary Iraqis weathering the terrible dislocations and tragedies of war.
-
-
Too little, too late
- By Kindle Customer on 03-23-09
By: Anthony Shadid
-
No Good Men Among the Living
- America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes
- By: Anand Gopal
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a breathtaking chronicle, acclaimed journalist Anand Gopal traces in vivid detail the lives of three Afghans caught in America's war on terror. He follows a Taliban commander who rises from scrawny teenager to leading insurgent, a U.S.-backed warlord who uses the American military to gain personal wealth and power, and a village housewife trapped between the two sides who discovers the devastating cost of neutrality.
-
-
Outstanding book, remarkable narrator
- By captainramius on 04-05-19
By: Anand Gopal
-
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters
- The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
- By: Jason Stearns
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the heart of Africa is Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations, that since 1996 has been wracked by a brutal and unstaunchable war in which millions have died. And yet, despite its epic proportions, it has received little sustained media attention. In this deeply reported book, Jason K. Stearns vividly tells the story of this misunderstood conflict through the experiences of those who engineered and perpetrated it.
-
-
First book I've found that explains DRC
- By Amazon Customer on 09-09-17
By: Jason Stearns
-
The Last Refuge
- Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America's War in Arabia
- By: Gregory Johnsen
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Far from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States and al-Qaeda are fighting a clandestine war of drones and suicide bombers in an unforgiving corner of Arabia. The Last Refuge charts the rise, fall, and resurrection of al-Qaeda in Yemen over the last 30 years, detailing how a group that the United States once defeated has now become one of the world’s most dangerous threats. An expert on Yemen who has spent years on the ground there, Gregory D. Johnsen uses al-Qaeda’s Arabic battle notes to reconstruct their world as they take aim at the United States and its allies.
-
-
bin laden.
- By Rhea on 07-15-13
By: Gregory Johnsen
-
The Burning Shores
- Inside the Battle for the New Libya
- By: Frederic Wehrey
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The death of Colonel Muammar Qadhafi freed Libya from 42 years of despotic rule, raising hopes for a new era. But in the aftermath, the country descended into bitter rivalries and civil war, paving the way for the Islamic State and a catastrophic migrant crisis. In a fast-paced narrative that blends frontline reporting, analysis, and history, Frederic Wehrey tells the story of what went wrong.
-
-
amazing yet painful book
- By Ghassan Tranesh on 09-20-18
By: Frederic Wehrey
-
The Siege of Mecca
- The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine & the Birth of Al-Qaeda
- By: Yaroslav Trofimov
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On November 20, 1979, worldwide attention was focused on Tehran, where the Iranian hostage crisis was entering its third week. The same morning, the first of a new Muslim century, hundreds of gunmen stunned the world by seizing Islam's holiest shrine, the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Armed with rifles that they had smuggled inside coffins, these men came from more than a dozen countries, launching the first operation of global jihad in modern times.
-
-
"The Siege" - A Review
- By Mitch Emswiller on 05-31-08
-
Night Draws Near
- Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War
- By: Anthony Shadid
- Narrated by: Anthony Shadid
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Determined to offer an unfiltered version of events, the Washington Post's Anthony Shadid was neither embedded with soldiers nor briefed by politicians. Because he is fluent in Arabic, Shadid, an Arab-American born and raised in Oklahoma, was able to actually disappear into the divided, dangerous worlds of Iraq. Day by day, as American dreams clashed with Arab notions of justice, he pieced together the human story of ordinary Iraqis weathering the terrible dislocations and tragedies of war.
-
-
Too little, too late
- By Kindle Customer on 03-23-09
By: Anthony Shadid
-
The Trigger
- Hunting the Assassin Who Brought the World to War
- By: Tim Butcher
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Trigger tells the story of a young man who changed the world forever. It focuses on the drama of the incident itself by following Princip's journey. By retracing his steps from the feudal frontier village of his birth, through the mountains of the northern Balkans to the great plain city of Belgrade, and ultimately to Sarajevo, Tim Butcher illuminates our understanding of Princip and makes discoveries about him that have eluded historians for 100 years.
-
-
Good, but not what I was looking for
- By Kendra on 07-08-14
By: Tim Butcher
-
A Continent for the Taking
- The Tragedy and Hope of Africa
- By: Howard W. French
- Narrated by: Mirron E. Willis
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In A Continent for the Taking, Howard W. French, a veteran correspondent for The New York Times, gives a compelling firsthand account of some of Africa's most devastating recent history. While he captures the tragedies that have repeatedly befallen Africa's peoples, French also opens our eyes to the immense possibility that lies in Africa's complexity, diversity, and myriad cultural strengths.
-
-
A story to pay your attention to
- By George on 04-30-13
By: Howard W. French
-
The Lemon Tree
- By: Sandy Tolan
- Narrated by: Sandy Tolan
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1967, not long after the Six-Day War, three young Arab men ventured into the town of Ramle, in what is now Jewish Israel. They were cousins, on a pilgrimage to see their childhood homes; their families had been driven out of Palestine nearly 20 years earlier. One cousin had a door slammed in his face, and another found his old house had been converted into a school. But the third, Bashir Al-Khairi, was met at the door by a young woman called Dalia, who invited them in.
-
-
Steeping The Lemon Tree
- By Faithfull Fan on 04-11-18
By: Sandy Tolan
-
Black Flags
- The Rise of ISIS
- By: Joby Warrick
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a thrilling dramatic narrative, awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, Joby Warrick traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents.
-
-
So much learned
- By mike flavin on 02-11-16
By: Joby Warrick
-
Imperial Grunts
- On the Ground with the American Military, from Mongolia to the Philippines to Iraq and Beyond...
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 18 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Plunging deep into midst of some of the hottest conflicts on the globe, Robert D. Kaplan takes us through mud and jungle, desert and dirt to the men and women on the ground who are leading the charge against threats to American security. These soldiers, fighting in thick Colombian jungles or on dusty Afghani plains, are the forefront of the new American foreign policy, a policy being implemented one soldier at a time.
-
-
Excellent book
- By Rob on 10-03-05
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Warriors of God
- Inside Hezbollah's Thirty-Year Struggle Against Israel
- By: Nicholas Blanford
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hezbollah is the most powerful Islamist group operating in the Middle East today, and no other Western journalist has penetrated as deeply inside this secretive organization as Nicholas Blanford. Now Blanford has written the first comprehensive inside account of Hezbollah and its enduring struggle against Israel.
-
-
Collection of anecdotes
- By Kindle Customer on 05-15-17
-
Children of the Stone
- The Power of Music in a Hard Land
- By: Sandy Tolan
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Children of the Stone chronicles Ramzi's journey - from stone thrower to music student to school founder - and shows how through his love of music he created something lasting and beautiful in a land torn by violence and war. This is a story about the power of music, but also about freedom and conflict, determination and vision.
-
-
Gripping. Beautifully written true story of Israel, Palestine
- By margot on 08-18-15
By: Sandy Tolan
-
Stones into Schools
- Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- By: Greg Mortenson
- Narrated by: Atossa Leoni
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this dramatic first-person narrative, Greg Mortenson picks up where Three Cups of Tea left off in 2003, recounting his relentless, ongoing efforts to establish schools for girls in Afghanistan; his extensive work in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan after a massive earthquake hit the region in 2005; and the unique ways he has built relationships with Islamic clerics, militia commanders, and tribal leaders. He shares for the first time his broader vision to promote peace through education and literacy.
-
-
Better than Three Cups of Tea
- By Cate F. on 12-15-09
By: Greg Mortenson
-
Spies of No Country
- Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel
- By: Matti Friedman
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The four spies at the center of this story were part of a ragtag unit known as the Arab Section, conceived during World War II by British spies and Jewish militia leaders in Palestine. Intended to gather intelligence and carry out sabotage and assassinations, the unit consisted of Jews who were native to the Arab world and could thus easily assume Arab identities. In 1948, with Israel's existence in the balance during the War of Independence, our spies went undercover in Beirut, where they spent the next two years operating out of a kiosk....
-
-
Absolutely brilliant
- By David Mane on 06-23-19
By: Matti Friedman
-
Like Dreamers
- The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation
- By: Yossi Klein Halevi
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 23 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Like Dreamers, acclaimed journalist Yossi Klein Halevi interweaves the stories of a group of 1967 paratroopers who reunited Jerusalem, tracing the history of Israel and the divergent ideologies shaping it from the Six-Day War to the present. Following the lives of seven young members from the 55th Paratroopers Reserve Brigade, the unit responsible for restoring Jewish sovereignty to Jerusalem, Halevi reveals how this band of brothers played pivotal roles in shaping Israel's destiny long after their historic victory.
-
-
A Clearer Understanding of the Israel
- By deborah on 06-07-14
-
The Prince of the Marshes
- By: Rory Stewart
- Narrated by: Rory Stewart
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Told from Stewart's distinctly Western perspective, The Prince of the Marshes chronicles his time acting as the deputy governor of two southern Iraqi provinces.
-
-
A View From The Real Iraq
- By James on 11-24-07
By: Rory Stewart
-
Cuba Libre!
- Che, Fidel, and the Improbable Revolution That Changed World History
- By: Tony Perrottet
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Historian and journalist Tony Perrottet chronicles the events of the Cuban Revolution and the figures at the center of the guerrilla uprising: Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and the scrappy band of rebel men and women who followed them.
-
-
HUGE anti-commie here...
- By Don C. on 10-22-21
By: Tony Perrottet
What listeners say about Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Henry
- 08-02-18
Bad-Ass Librarians Do Exist
Some time ago a friend of mine shared her upcoming reading list for her book club with me. As I looked through the list, one title jumped out at me from the page: The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer. The title intrigued me. I’ve been shushed by more than one librarian as I made my way through school. However, I cannot think of any silent stair or waggling of the finger that would’ve led me to think of them as bad-ass librarians. The next thing that intrigued me was Timbuktu. I knew that it was in Mali in West Africa and I that it had been linked with the salt trade throughout West Africa for millennia. However, I would never in a million years have associated it with a library. Perhaps this was something new. Maybe a bold plan to create a lending library using camel caravans to circulate the bestselling books in Lagos or Cairo to senior living villages deep in the Saharan desert. In any event, I needed to read this book. The second part of the title was: And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts. I clearly didn’t know anything about the manuscripts, precious or not. However I’ve been in the desert and it’s hard to imagine racing to do anything. When it’s hot you slow down and take it easy. So, what would cause a librarian to race? Now let’s think about precious. When I think of the world’s most precious manuscripts I think of Johann Gutenberg’s Bible or John James Audubon's Birds of America. I do not think of West African manuscripts. If we were talking Egypt or Nubia that would be different. Over time we have discovered troves of early Egyptian and Christian writings hidden away in the desert. Such findings are rare, and the manuscripts are often in danger of becoming dust before they could even be digitized. What sort of manuscripts could one find if one traveled halfway across the world to Timbuktu? The book starts with the passing of the duties of the family librarian from Mamma Haidara to his son Abdel Kader Haidara. That’s fascinating, a family library. Perhaps they were a family of scholars and they had collected some manuscripts over time. While that turns out to be true, the even more amazing truth is that they were just one family out of thousands who had amassed a sizeable library. Where did the manuscripts come from? The book reveals that they were often the creation of West African scholars, poets, and philosophers. Some were copies of prized works like the Koran. Some were 500 years old. Now let that origin and the age of these manuscript sink in. I can remember reading books about Africa that depicted most of the continent outside of Egypt as backward, ignorant, without sophistication, and of little to show for millennia of existence. Abdel Kader Haidara’s family library alone shatters this myth with in your face evidence of nuanced, imaginative, critical thinking set down on manuscripts that in many cases were equal parts art and scholarly thought. The existence of even a few of these works is cause for literary joy, the reality that there are hundreds of thousands of such manuscripts shatters the European myth of African inferiority. Conceding that the manuscripts are precious, it’s clear that Haidara’s efforts to preserve them is laudable. But with a change in the political winds in Mali these manuscripts were about to need protection not from termites but from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). The MNLA took control of Timbuktu in 2012 and immediately imposed a very strict version of Sharia law. Now the very presence of the manuscripts placed Haidara and every other family librarian in grave personal danger. The MNLA leadership had beheaded tourists simply because their governments hadn’t paid their ransom. The manuscripts were far more dangerous. What makes a manuscript dangerous? Certainly, age and rarity can make any book valuable, but only its content can make it dangerous. Consider Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses. Not long after it was published in 1988 he had to go into hiding to save his life. Why, because some Muslims accused Rushdie of blasphemy or unbelief. Then in 1989 the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie. As we learn from the book, the MNLA had their own Imams and could issue similarly fatal fatwas. Therefore, content matters, and religious manuscripts that contained wrong thinking could get you killed. The book tells how this became a life and death matter to Abdel Kader Haidara who publicly displays his families works and is entrusted with the safe keeping of thousands of other family’s treasures. If the danger doesn’t jump right out at you consider the events in Palmyra Syria in 2015. After the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) occupied Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, they set about destroying priceless antiquities with brazen hostility for worldwide condemnation of their actions. When they summoned Khaled al-Asaad the Syrian archaeologist and the head of antiquities for the ancient city of Palmyra and demanded that he reveal the hiding place of the antiquities he was protecting he refused their demands. For his bravery and service to the world ISIS publicly beheaded him. While these horrid events were still a few years into the future at the time of the Jihadi occupation of Timbuktu, this book reveals that Haidara and those who helped him move and hide the manuscripts were hyper aware that they could each suffer the same fate. So, let’s wrap up this review with the race. The MNLA occupation of Northern Mali was settling in on Timbuktu like a heavy wooden yoke. With each passing day the Jihadi occupiers imposed ever greater controls and extracted ever more sever punishments from their captive population. Then after a falling out with their Tuareg allies the Jihadi quickly removed all constraints on their imposition of sharia law as they defined it. The manuscripts would certainly not pass critical review with this brand of Jihadi. Haidara and those like him who were committed to their preservation had to act fast, had to race against death itself to preserve these precious manuscripts. It’s a race worth reading about. I recommend this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 06-29-16
Fascinating
A wonderful Rick weaving of the cultural history of the Timbuktu region, a chilling view of the rise and subsiding of Al Qaeda in the area, and the courageous work of saving the ancient folios containing Timbuktu's history.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Emily
- 01-28-20
Weird reading emphasis and needed an editor badly.
The narrator pauses and hitches in bizarre places.
While I found the main story interesting, I nearly could not get through this book for its fearmongering and disingenuous repeated attempt to divorce “sharia” from “fiqh,” as if one was meant to be “IslamIST law” and one a much higher, more proper, acceptable version. Sharia is Islamic law: all of it. The quote from the woman who tells the jihadis that “YOU are the ones who need to follow sharia!” actually... you know, MATTERS in that context, as she’s telling them they are egregiously misinterpreting their own religion.
Anyway, there’s a lot of vaguely racist imagery and phrasing in this book for a story that genuinely does not need cheap, awful tricks to drive home how terrifying it actually must have been. If you care about Islam or intellectual honesty, skip this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JR
- 04-16-18
Read it with a map and Google satellite imagery.
The French and Arabic names were well narrated in the audiobook. I needed the context of the geographic relationships, so read the book with a map of Africa and Google satellite maps at hand. An amazing story of people committed to their history and legacy.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Readergirl
- 08-11-19
AMAZING STORY OF AN UNSUNG HERO
This is an amazing tale of young man who literally saves his culture. There was so much insight about ancient texts and scrolls from the 13th century mixed in with current events and the fight against the Islamic State. I was so surprised by the way Mr. Hammer magically weaved ancient knowledge with current events with the life path of a reluctant son.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MolllyT
- 05-09-16
Extraordinary archivist
I missed this book on a Goodreads Giveaway, but I caught up with it as Whispersync on the cheap courtesy of BookGorilla. It combines histories of North Africa (especially Mali), Islam, religious scrolls and the people who have been protecting them, and so much more. The title's catchy, but it ought to be Bad-a$$ Archivists, I think. One man made it his life's work to gather and protect scrolls from everywhere he could, despite extremists and other crazies. It is a very involved and often tense tale, but also written with a detail and sensitivity that makes it riveting. There is much to be learned here, and we all hope for positive change.
Paul Boehmer is a fine audio performer and brings so much to life with his talents.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
15 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kristie McComb
- 06-12-21
an epic story of commitment and volunteerism!
I loved this book and am feeling so inspired. This book manifests my favorite qualities of a human story: reading about the best and the worst of our species side by side so that I can always be reminded what we are capable of in either direction. I feel honored when I get the opportunity to glimpse into an important human endeavor that I might otherwise never hear about. That is this true story of a battle for saving important and enlightening history and culture carved out in a difficult patch of terrain of the African continent ( that I know from my own service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Sahel) over the last 1000 years. A written history that shows how much Africa was never as dark and backward as it's always been defined in the West. I'm so thankful to this band of dedicated and anointed volunteers who triumphed at the risk of their own lives. thank you!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- la harris
- 05-22-21
Courage Under Fire: Librarian Style
It's great! Takes a while to take off, lots of details but it has historic information. Worth the read!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- History Buff
- 07-17-20
Great Title; Good Subtitle; Nail-biting Narrative
I definitely bought this book because of its title. Yes, I was once a librarian, and though I didn't start out to be mean and nasty, I quickly was fed up with students who didn't read and with patrons who didn't return their books on time. But I would never, not in a million years, have tried to smuggle priceless manuscripts under the noses of Jihadists and Al-Qaeda terrorists.
My geography is pretty poor. A downside to listening to an audible.com book is there are no maps. I suspect that had I read a paper book, there would have been several illustrations of the area. Even so, I am now much more fluent in land-locked African geography than I ever thought to be.
Throughout the second half of the book, however, I worried that religious fanatics now know that these treasures exist, and probably are located in the libraries of Timbuktu. Hammer rather leaves the reader in suspense....
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- SFAmazonUser3432593
- 02-17-17
Excellent chronicle of history
Narration reminds me of that Channel on hotel Tvs where they list off the amenities.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!