333 Saints

333 SAINTS: A Life of Scholarship in Timbuktu¬-a photographic book in English and French by Fulbright Scholar Alexandra Huddleston-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-except as a byword for the remote and exotic-until militant...
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333 SAINTS: A Life of Scholarship in Timbuktu¬-a photographic book in English and French by Fulbright Scholar Alexandra Huddleston-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-except as a byword for the remote and exotic-until militant Islamist groups destroyed many of its religious shrines and ancient manuscripts in 2012. This hauntingly beautiful book captures a way of life and learning as it was shortly before the Islamists overran the city. These photographs depict a moment in time now almost gone, fading into history. They show a culture of moderate Islam that is under threat: a deeply rooted, ancient Islamic tradition of tolerance, erudition, and faith.