"A photographic book that tells a story of discovery: exploring a rich and beautiful African intellectual culture. The book takes the reader to a city that built its identity around a culture of scholarship and a love of books and learning. Timbuktu, at the edge of the vast Sahara Desert, was little known in the West until militant Islamist groups destroyed many of its religious shrines and ancient manuscripts in 2012. This book captures a way of life and learning as it was shortly before the Islamists overran the city. These photographs show a culture of moderate Islam that is under threat: a deeply rooted, ancient Islamic tradition of tolerance, erudition, and faith." --Author's website.