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

Milton, Giles

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0340834943 ISBN 13: 9780340834947

Casa editrice: Sceptre, 2004

Riassunto

In the summer of 1716, a Cornish cabin boy named Thomas Pellow and fifty-two 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 daily terror. For twenty-three years, he would dream of his home, his family and freedom. He was one of the fortunate few who survived to tell his tale. WHITE GOLD is an extraordinary and shocking story. Drawn from unpublished letters and manuscripts written by slaves, and by the padres and ambassadors sent to free them, it reveals a disturbing and forgotten chapter of history, told with all the pace and verve of one of our finest historians.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

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'

A magnificent piece of popular history

The thoroughness and intelligence of his research underpins the lively confidence with which he deploys it

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

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

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

Descrizione del libro:

An extraordinary and shocking white-slaving historical narrative from the worldwide bestselling author of NATHANIEL'S NUTMEG.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Sceptre
• Data di pubblicazione: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0340834943
• ISBN 13: 9780340834947
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 336