White Gold

Having recently traveled to Morocco, our trip leader there recommended this book, and I'm so thankful that he did. It is the proverbial 'page turner ' and hard to put down once you start. We stopped for just a few hours in the Imperial City of Meknes, and having read the book and how central it is to the narrative, I wish I had known then what this story enlightened me to, and could have spent more time there with this knowledge. It's at once an incredible tale of survival by the protagonist, Thomas Pellow, who was only ten years old when he and the crew of his uncle's ship, having sailed from England, were captured and sold into slavery by the infamous Barbary Pirates, and his tale of 23 years in captivity, surviving against incredible odds, is the backbone of this amazing narrative. Highly recommended!!

A must read. Particularly, with the rewriting of history.

This book arrived in excellent condition, very good protective packaging. Fast shipping and good price.The history is very interesting concerning the white slave trade taken from Europe and sent to North Africa. The Barbary corsaires captured one million or more white slaves and would also attack and capture ships in the Mediterranean, including US flagged ships and that is one of the reasons for the creation of the United States navy. I look forward to reading more of this fascinating book.

Milton uses the story of Thomas Pellow, a cabin boy enslaved by Muslims at age 12 and finally returning to Cornwall 23 years later, as a framework overview of the Muslim slave trade - which preyed on European Christians as far away as the coasts of Iceland and Cornwall.It's an exciting read, a proverbial 'page turner', and a perfect blend of story telling and history. Milton masterfully interweaves backstory and general history with Pellow's saga. I would hate to use another cliche...but I really couldn't put it down!Its a shame the WP post reviewer uses it as excuse to vent his political views, and browbeat us with nonsense about 'Orientalism', I would highly recommend this book as an introduction to an all but forgotten part of our history (Yes Alsan, us, as in European Christians). I imagine like Aslan are afraid of this book because the indisputable facts shatter their victim status, and takes away a 'tool' by which to guilt-trip Europeans and Americans. After all if we were 'victims' of slavery, all the sudden 'imperialism' and 'white privilege' lose their sting.A few examples of Aslan's bias:"in which his 11-year-old self patiently endures month after month of horrific torture, administered by the crown prince himself, with whom Pellow remarkably engages in a quasi-theological debate (in Arabic or English, one can't tell which) before finally submitting to Islam -- is so absurd that the reader is stunned to find Milton swallowing the tale whole."Milton specifically points out that Pellow was an exceptionally bright lad in school - and back in the 17th/18th century someone educated his age (11) would have had a firm grasp of theology ("college" students usually graduated at age 18 or so) in an age where a century later 12 year old future Admiral Farragut would skipper a ship around cape horn its not inconceivable a boy might know a thing or two about theology. It is also documented and corroborated the Pellow rose to high service at young age because of his intelligence. Yet Aslan sneers it's 'absurd' but offers no reason why. Nor does he offer any reason why corroborated stories of Ismail's evil and brutality should not be accepted. He apparently wants us to feel 'wrong' for believing that a man who practiced mass slavery and perfectly willing to murder half brothers (a common occurrence in Muslim royal families) could be brutal."That White Gold merely regurgitates Pellow's "memoirs" is even more troubling because Milton enthusiastically adopts the outmoded vocabulary of the era, repeatedly referring in his book to "Christian" slaves and even "Christian" vessels being captured by "Muslim" pirates and sold to "Muslim" masters"Well Aslan they would only enslave Christians and non Muslims, defined themselves as Muslim and the Koran specifically allowed slavery, where at the same time, anti-slavery movements were taking root in Christendom, if I am 'allowed' to use that 'dated' term.Why the Washington Post chose this guy to review the book remains a mystery - but they clearly wanted a negative review.

This is a book that should be required reading.

This is the third account of William Pellow, white slave in North Africa, and by far the one in most detail about others as well. Pellow's own account is also very good. I found this one gave good insight into the history of the slave depredations made by Muslim raiders all along every coast line in Europe for many decades. It also affords an interesting insight into the mind of the Muslim Pasha, or what we would call a warlord today. The fact is, absolutely nothing has changed, and their cruelty today is rooted in a long history of abuse of all who do not share their faith, and of one another as it pleases them. Worth the read for that alone. And yet, quite a number of them escaped, and lived to tell about it.

I fully expected this book to be dry and largely a catalogue of dates and statistics, but I had only a very vague knowledge of the White Slave Trade and wanted to learn more about it. It turned out to be one of those books that keep you up at night, reluctant to put it down until you find out what happened next.The author is skilful - his style is such that you are not aware of the printed words, only of the action. And the action: a combination of Star Trek and Star Wars all wrapped up in an historical setting from Hornblower.If this had been taught at school, I would have paid a lot more attention!

Anything Giles Milton writes one can be sure is well worth reading, and surely well researched.. Incredible factual tale of the kidnappings of Europeans by Barbary Pirates. Over one million Europeans were kidnapped from boats (commercial sailboats with no guns, often), and from coastal towns. These people disappeared into the Islamic world forever. Those kidnapped who after deprivations and terrible mistreatment agreed to accept the Islamic religion fared better than those who didn't. Fascinating reading--I understand these kidnappings went on for a great many, many years, certainly for far more years than America's stint in slavery. Whites were sold at African slave markets, and suffered the indignities and mistreatment that many Africans experienced who were sold into slavery at the coast, often sold by tribesman other than their own. This book, WHITE GOLD, is, simply, mesmerizing reading, as is the author's, Giles Milton's, NATHANIEL'S NUTMEG. A great writer, with well documented research!

A little dry. Overall, a good and informative read on the slavery of white people.

The author has excelled in creating a very readable account of the Moroccan trade in white, European slaves, partly through the eyes of Thomas Pellow, an Englishman taken from sea as a 12 year old, whose sheer ability to survive and better his situation makes his story fascinating - and partially in a more general way, discussing various sultans, towns and peoples involved in the enslavements.At around 250 pages of main content, with relatively large font, it's a quick read and despite the heavy subject matter and brutality and extreme suffering described, the book never gets heavy.It's important, in this day and age - where historic atrocities that Christian nations (the West) have commited are so prevalent in today's society's discussions - that these victims are remembered equally. It educates those who may not have been aware that slavery was an ever present universal abhorrence from the dawn of human civilisation, and, in fact still happens today. I'm glad this topic has been tackled, and tackled so eloquently and insightfully.

O livro traz informações imprescindíveis para se entender o fenômeno da escravidão branca, tratada como tabu no Brasil. Aqui nos fazem acreditar que apenas negros eram escravizados por causa da sua cor de pele, sendo que na verdade, QUALQUER UM poderia se tornar cativo no passado, principalmente entre os séculos XIV e XIX.Milhões de europeus eram capturados e vendidos na África e Oriente Médio ao mesmo tempo que os negros eram trazidos pra cá, porem, antes que algum intelectualmente limitado venha me acusar de justificar o trafico negreiro porque brancos também eram perseguidos, já adianto que estudando o tema, veremos que cor de pele nunca foi o fator primordial para justificar a perseguição aos negros, e sim porque a África já possuía um milenar mercado de escravos e já havia toda uma estrutura montada pelos reinos muçulmanos que abasteciam essas mortais redes de comercio. A questão é justamente mostrar que todos os povos sofreram com isso e não se deixarem levar por políticas baratas de sensacionalismo emocional que visam apenas aprisionar a mente do cidadão com mentiras e paranoias.Enfim, este é apenas um de muitos livros disponíveis na Amazon sobre o tema e todos deveriam ler. Aqueles que não tem domínio do inglês, podem usar o google tradutor do celular. O processo é simples, basta abrir o app, acionar sua câmera, e mandar traduzir a pagina. Um procedimento que dura apenas alguns segundos mas pode lhe ajudar a adquirir um grande conhecimento.Só não dei cinco estrelas porque o anuncio oferece uma capa e me entregaram outra, porem o conteúdo é o mesmo.

What a story - truly extraordinary. This book opens a new facet of history which most of us are unaware of. The trading of European slaves in North Africa.You see the era through Thomas Pellow's eyes - the author has done deep research and has a way of story telling which leaves the reader spellbound. Must read for amateur history fans.

I read this book during my first stay in Morocco in order to get a feeling of the history of the country. It concentrates mainly on the harrowing tale of Thomas Pellow, who was a slave for 23 years to the Sultan Mulaay Ismail. The era is vividly brought to life in this book and the story so full of desperation, suspence, drama, twists & turns and ups & downs that it renders you speechless and full of awe at the will to survive this young child/man evidently had. A few sentences of what bacame of him after his return to England went amiss but maybe this is not documented historically.The unbelieveable brutality of the Sultan, whose captive Thomas Pellows and tens of thousands others were, is also very well described and illustrated verbally. I don't believe any author or Hollywood script writer could come up with a story more fantastical than this true story.Defintely worth reading!