This book is important reading from the point of view of the manuscripts of course, and a very important corrective to be idea that there was no scholarship in African history, as Henry Louis Gates Jr found out. But perhaps the most important lesson from this important book, is not only the scholarship and the heroism, but the fact that institutions around the world need strengthening, and our International institutions need to be able to work with the local institutions at every level in every country, to protect our heritage as human beings. Because progress once made, is not forever set. We have seen this time and time again, from the destruction of the great Canal networks in Mesopotamia by Genghis Khan, to the destruction of the great manuscripts and libraries and monuments and shrines of North Africa by revisionist fanatics wanting to impose their own version of History on everyone. Progress can never be taken for granted, and must be protected, for all of us. So we need to be providing more support on every level to both international and local institutions, especially in the most vulnerable countries in the world. Because as the French President pointed out, something happening in a country that used to be considered far away, can in fact, become an existential threat even to one of the great Powers. More importantly than that, no human being is safe until every human being is safe.