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A review by thatkorigirl
The Storied City: The Quest for Timbuktu and the Fantastic Mission to Save Its Past by Charlie English
5.0
In my 3rd grade class we discussed Timbuktu, and since then I have yearned to learn more, and eventually visit. I haven't bought a plane ticket yet, but I did get a book on Timbuktu.
Important background: There are a lot of racist myths towards Africa that people believe even today. One of them: "Primitive" Africans had no writing and no clear history. To quote a British historian named in the novel, speaking in 1963, "Perhaps in the future, there will be some African history to teach. But at present there is none. There is only the history of Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness."
In truth there were some cultural and ethnic groups in African who have had an almost singularly oral tradition, though since the days of colonization that has not been true. But since Africa has more diversity than any other continent by sheer count of ethnic groups (cultures are not so defineable and countable), the myth of Africa having no written history is unequivicably untrue. (also, I learned when I was young that specifically Timbuktu had a famous library long ago - it's surprising to me that people still don't know this).
Told in the past and the present, Charlie English conveys the history and present of Timbuktu in the context of European colonialism, in the context of the modern radical Islamic revolts, and in the context of books. I love this book, and if you're interested in any of the above, you will too.
Important background: There are a lot of racist myths towards Africa that people believe even today. One of them: "Primitive" Africans had no writing and no clear history. To quote a British historian named in the novel, speaking in 1963, "Perhaps in the future, there will be some African history to teach. But at present there is none. There is only the history of Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness."
In truth there were some cultural and ethnic groups in African who have had an almost singularly oral tradition, though since the days of colonization that has not been true. But since Africa has more diversity than any other continent by sheer count of ethnic groups (cultures are not so defineable and countable), the myth of Africa having no written history is unequivicably untrue. (also, I learned when I was young that specifically Timbuktu had a famous library long ago - it's surprising to me that people still don't know this).
Told in the past and the present, Charlie English conveys the history and present of Timbuktu in the context of European colonialism, in the context of the modern radical Islamic revolts, and in the context of books. I love this book, and if you're interested in any of the above, you will too.