"Books," he said raising a massive index finger for emphasis, "were once more desired than gold or slaves in Timbuktu." He clicked a flashlight on and balanced a mangled pair of glasses on his nose.

During the next 30 years, al-Wangari amassed handwritten books on subjects ranging from history to poetry to astronomy, from both Timbuktu and other parts of the Islamic world. After the scholar's ...

The Book Smugglers Of Timbuktu by Charlie English is a painstakingly well-researched saga of a far-flung desert town in the West African nation of Mali and the incredible modern-day effort by that ...

Timbuktu reached its apex in the 1300s when Mansa Musa brought back thousands of books from his journeys. This was after he went on Hajj to Mecca in 1324. He travelled with a massive entourage and ...