White Gold: The Forgotten Story of North Africa's European Slaves - Tapa dura

Praise for Giles Milton s previous books: It s almost impossible to summarise [NATHANIEL'S NUTMEG], from which marvellous, vivid stories spill out like swagsack booty - Guardian on NATHANIEL's NUTMEG A magnificent piece of popular history - Independent on Sunday on NATHANIEL's NUTMEG The thoroughness and intelligence of his research underpins the lively confidence with which he deploys it - The Times Literary Supplement on NATHANIEL's NUTME Giles Milton s narrative races along as he stitches together a story of heroism, sacrifice and misplaced zeal, painstakingly researched from contemporary writing and records - Observer on BIG CHIEF ELIZABETH Giles Milton can take an event from history and make it come alive. He has a genius for lively prose, and an appreciation for historical credibility. He has crafted an inspiration for those of us who believe that history can be exciting and entertaining - The Times on SAMURAI WILLIAM An exceptionally pungent, amusing and accessible historical account Milton s research has been prodigious and it yields an entertaining, richly informative look at the past - The New York Times on BIG CHIEF ELIZABETH

In the summer of 1716, a Cornish cabin boy named Thomas Pellow and 52 of his comrades were captured at sea by the Barbary corsairs. Their captors - fanatical Islamic slave traders - had declared war on the whole of Christendom. Thousands of Europeans had been snatched from their homes and taken in chains to the great slave markets of Algiers, Tunis and Sale in Morocco to be sold to the highest bidder. Pellow was bought by the tyrannical sultan of Morocco, who bragged that his white slaves enabled him to hold all of Europe to ransom. The sultan was constructing an imperial pleasure palace of enormous scale and grandeur, built entirely by Christian slave labour. Thomas Pellow was selected to be a personal slave of the sultan and he would witness first-hand the barbaric splendour of the imperial Moroccan court, as well as experience of daily terror. For 23 years, he would dream of his home, his family and freedom. He was one of the fortunate few who survived to tell his told. Drawn from unpublished letters and manuscripts written by slaves and by the padres and ambassadors sent to free them, this shocking and extraordinary story reveals a disturbing and forgotten chapter of our history.