{"product_id":"timbuctoo-paperback","title":"Timbuctoo - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eTahir Shah\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInspired by a true story: In October 1815, an illiterate American sailor named Robert Adams was discovered roaming the streets of London, half-naked and starving. In the months that followed, high society was rocked by his tale.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt a time when the European powers were posturing for empire, there was one quest above all else, one destination to which no Christian had ever ventured and returned alive - Timbuctoo.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRegarded as a golden metropolis par excellence, an African El Dorado fashioned from the purest gold, it was for centuries a European obsession. The British, Germans, French, and others dispatched their most capable explorers to seek it out and to sack it. Most of them never returned.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe only nation uninterested in the mania for Timbuctoo was the fledgling United States. And so, when a young American sailor claimed to have visited the city as a guest of its king, while a white slave in Africa, it caused uproar on an unknown scale.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMore shocking still was the sailor's description of the El Dorado - as a poverty-stricken and wretched place - and the fact that he seemed blasé and uninterested at having been there at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSet against a backdrop of the British Regency, a time of ultimate decadence and avarice, of haves and have-nots, Robert Adams's tale has been all but forgotten, until now. An astonishing story of survival and hardship, it's a one touched with irony. A man who had set out to make his fame and fortune through trade, Robert Adams gained both, but by selling the tale of his journey.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlmost twenty years ago, Tahir Shah noticed an inch-thick quarto-sized book propping up a water pipe in the basement of the London Library. Pulling it out, he first set eyes on Robert Adams's \u003cem\u003eNarrative\u003c\/em\u003e, published by John Murray in 1816.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book became an obsession to Shah, just as Regency London was itself fixated with the golden metropolis of Timbuctoo. Packed with well-researched detail of the time, and inspired by Adams's ordeal, \u003cem\u003eTimbuctoo\u003c\/em\u003e is a fast-past and compelling read. It's a tale of treachery, greed, love and, above all else, of survival in the face of insurmountable odds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 550\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.23 x 8.5 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 05, 2022\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42719458394175,"sku":"9781914960505","price":37.24,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/616211ba3052fbb77761a37d99e087b3.webp?v=1765085697","url":"https:\/\/dhlswag.com\/products\/timbuctoo-paperback","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}