White gold: the extraordinary story of Thomas Pellow and Islam's one million white slaves

Description

This book reveals a disturbing and long forgotten chapter of history. In 1716, a Cornish cabin boy named Thomas Pellow and 51 comrades were captured at sea by the Barbary corsairs. Their captors--a network of Muslim slave traders--had declared war on Christendom. Thousands had been snatched from their homes in France, Spain, England and Italy and taken in chains to the great slave markets of Algiers, Tunis and Sal ̌in Morocco. Pellow and his shipmates were bought by the tyrannical sultan of Morocco, who was constructing a palace of such grandeur that it would surpass every other building in the world, built entirely by Christian slave labor. Resourceful, resilient, and quick-thinking, Pellow was selected by the sultan for special treatment, and was one of the fortunate few who survived to tell his tale.--From publisher description.;List of illustrations -- Map of Morocco -- Map of the Mediterranean -- Prologue -- A new and deadly foe -- Sultan of slaves -- Seized at sea -- Pellow's torments -- Into the slave pen -- Guarding the concubines -- Rebels in the High Atlas -- Turning Turk -- At the court of Moulay Ismail -- Escape or death -- Blood rivals -- Long route home -- Epilogue -- Notes and sources -- Acknowledgments -- Index.