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White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa's One Million European Slaves
 
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White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa's One Million European Slaves (Hardcover)

by Giles Milton (Author)
4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd (7 Jun 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0340794690
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340794692
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.6 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 336,922 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #74 in  Books > History > Countries & Regions > Africa > 1500-1900

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk
Writer and journalist Giles Milton specializes in the history of travel and exploration. His latest literary adventure, White Gold, is the story of Thomas Pellow, a Cornish cabin boy who was captured at sea by a group of fanatical Islamic slave traders—the Barbary corsairs, taken in chains to the great slave markets of Algiers, Tunis and Salè in Morocco and sold to the highest bidder. Pellow’s purchaser happened to be the tyrannical sultan of Morroco, Moulay Ismail, a man committed to building a vast imperial pleasure palace of unsurpassable splendour built entirely by Christian slave labour. After enduring long periods of torture Pellow converted to Islam and became the personal slave of the sultan for over two decades—including a stint as a soldier in the sultan’s army—before finally making a dramatic escape and return to Cornwall. The account is supported by the unpublished letters and manuscripts of slaves and the various ambassadors sent to free them. This is an excellently written account of the history of the white slave trade. Pellow’s story is an extraordinary one but the real interest lies in the picture Milton builds of life in the slave pens and especially of daily life at the court of the spectacularly barbaric Moulay Ismail. --Larry Brown

Independent on Sunday on NATHANIEL's NUTMEG
‘A magnificent piece of popular history'

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White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa's One Million European Slaves
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Customer Reviews

18 Reviews
5 star:
 (16)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional Work!, 21 Dec 2004
By Neil Limbert (Sheffield, S.Yorkshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
Brilliant research and background work bring to life the story of Morocco's White slave trade. Milton has the skill of a novelist and manages to engage the reader immediately. His stories of Barbary corsairs sailing with inpunity up and down the English channel during the 17th century is incredible-particularly the year when they established a slave gathering base on Lundy Island. He estimates over 1 million European slaves were taken. He centralises his story around Thomas Pellow who endured 23 years in captivity before escaping.
I thoroughly recommend this book to all lovers of well written history.It fills a gap in our knowledge.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent read, 12 Aug 2004
By R. Hamilton "Lenny Banter" - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I was quite surprised to see a book on this subject as I had never heard about it before. It deals with the trade of White slaves in North Africa, focusing primarily on Morocco between 1600 and up until about 1750. At school, I was only taught about the Black slave trade but was never told about one dealing with White's. Using first hand accounts of survivors, it shows the hardships that were imposed on these men and women. Not only did they suffer with the heat, the backbreaking work or the squalid conditions in which they were kept, they were in constant fear of their lives. Their slave masters would use torture to make them change their religion or could be executed for the most minor of things.

The bias for primary sources does centre on British slaves, but there are mention of and recollections from other nationalities from all over Europe, as well North America. The only faults I found with it were in the way it has been speculated how people felt, when they did not leave a record or the way there was not more of a background to the events that are covered in this work. These are only minor gripes and have not taken away from my enjoyment of the piece. If history is the new Rock n' Roll, then it is nice to see someone come up with a subject that is not only new, but interesting. This has been an absolutely brilliant read and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars what a book, 16 Jul 2004
captivating story,pardon the pun.this book really is an amazing
story of human endurance through the most horrific experiences
fate could throw at anyone,it also gave me an insight into how
the muslim world of north africa held christianity in hatred and
contempt.the tale of thomas pellow captured by barbary pirates
and his servitude under a cruel and sadistic ruler is a truly
remarkable and nightmarish journey told at a terrific pace but
still manages to pack in masses of historical facts and insight
into numerous locations and characters.apart from the central story of pellow and his adventures the descriptions of the conditions and labour of the european slaves is heart rending.
families torn apart,british governments powerless to stop the
white slavers is an episode of our history that needed to be told.a brilliant read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars White Gold
Imagine, you are singing hymns on yet another uneventful Sunday morning in a church in a sleepy little Cornish Village. Read more
Published 5 days ago by D. C. Murray

5.0 out of 5 stars We dont know what we dont know.
I had heard a snippet of information about how white Christian Europeans had been enslaved by the Sultans of Morocco, but this was missing from my history lessons. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mr. P. Holt

5.0 out of 5 stars Get slave-ering historians!... Sorry
I had been reading around the Ottoman Empire and had my interest piqued by the harrowing topic of white european slavery. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Matthew Brown-Bolton

5.0 out of 5 stars White slaves....who would believe it.
A very well written book which just goes to show that someone, somewhere at sometime are being made to do something they don't want to do. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Slasher

4.0 out of 5 stars The Moor's Revenge
I love Giles Milton's books. If you haven't read Nathaniel's Nutmeg or Samurai William, then do so.

I already knew a bit of this story - that Barbary corsairs raided... Read more
Published 13 months ago by DB

5.0 out of 5 stars Remind the world...
Yet again written in a style that allows everyone to read it, Milton delivers. He has such an eye for the long forgotten but fascinating tale that it stands out as adventure and... Read more
Published 15 months ago by A. Goodall

5.0 out of 5 stars Slavery was not all triangular trade
Truth stranger than fiction told about a little known historical story. If you have ever wondered about pub signs with Moorish heads, here is the answer. Read more
Published 22 months ago by G. J. Weeks

4.0 out of 5 stars History revisited
great read from much reasearch that broght a hell of a story together
my only wish would have been to have surviving details on the rest of his life

even his... Read more
Published 22 months ago by masspecguy

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent True story. Should be compulsory reading in all schools
An excellent true Real life story of the horrors many White Europeans had to suffer at the hands of islamists. Read more
Published 23 months ago by I. REYGAN

5.0 out of 5 stars One of those books you just can't put down.
Giles Milton has managed to bring the facts and figures of History, to life, in this brilliant book. Read more
Published 23 months ago by The friendly Professor

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