The author got the main part of his research from letters. This is the story of Thomas pellow, who was from Cornwall England. he left on a ship that his Uncle captained when he was 11 years old. but it is also the story of thousands of European White slaves.

Such a huge number of blacks from Africa were enslaved, sent to all the Americas, england, Continental Europe, and the Mediterranean region. Thus, I wanted to find out about the white slaves. While they numbered Nowhere near the amount of enslaved blacks, white slaves were kidnapped from merchant ships captured while sailing in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic. This was done by pirates from Morocco, and brought to the sultan in Meknes. The women that were caught were sent to his harem if they were pretty, others were sent to breeding farms. The children were sent to special safe slave quarters where they were taught to serve the sultan.
Being slaved men were used to build The sultans lavish palaces. Moulay Ismail was often compared to King Louie XIV and his Palace of Versailles. The sultan was determined to outdo the Sun king.

The author visited the ruins in 2002:
2005 Hardbound Garrard, Straus and Giroux
P.7:
"Three centuries of sun and rain have not been kind to this sprawling palace, built of pisé, a mixture of Earth and lime The winds of the Atlas mountains have blasted the pink walls, reducing them in places to a powdery heap. arches lie broken and towers have been eroded to stumps. the earthquake of 1755 caused the greatest devastation: the fabric of the great palace shattered, groaned and expired. what had taken decades to construct was torn apart in minutes. cedarwood ceilings were ripped from their rafters, and stucco crumbled and collapsed. Whole quarters of the palace slumped in on themselves, crushing furniture and antiques. The court fled in panic, never to return. the broken Imperial shell, reduced to a sorry hodgepodge of roofless chambers, was quickly colonized by the poor and wretched of meknes."

Many French Padres and several English ambassadors and diplomats traveled to meknes, trying to convince the sultan to release the white slaves. At one point, the sultan agreed to send his ambassador to meet with King Charles II, in order to discuss terms for buying back Englishmen.
P.48-9:
"The Ambassador beguiled all whom he met and proved no less skillful when -- after enjoying almost six months of lavish hospitality -- he sat down to discuss the slaves being held in Morocco. King Charles II had done all he could to welcome the Ambassador with 'more than ordinary form,' hoping that it would result in a lasting and advantageous peace.. the Moroccan Ambassador returned home in September 1682 and immediately headed to Moulay Ismail's Court to report on his triumph...
in the hope of advancement, one of the ambassador's retinue had told Moulay Ismail that Muhammad ben Hardy Ottur had spent his time in England drinking and consorting with bad women....the Ambassador retorted that he had been the very model of probity, but added that the others had indulged in 'whoring, and mixing pagan rumps with Christian giblets'.... the sultan was inclined to believe his Ambassador and released him from his irons, confessing later that he had spared him only when he learned that King Charles II had saluted him by taking off his hat. The rest of the retinue were condemned for consorting with prostitutes and were ordered to strip naked. 'Their principal evidence was cut off,' reads one English account of the incident, 'which it is thought will spoil their whoring for the future.' " ( )

This is a quite startling story about which I knew next to nothing. Barbary pirates raided the coasts and ships of the seafaring European powers for a couple of centuries, taking the sailors hostage and keeping them as slaves. This takes an account of Thomas Pellow, taken when he was 12 years old and remaining a slave for the next 20 plus years. At times it gets a bit sensational and repetitive, but that's not to say that this isn't a valuable story to tell. ( )

A rather startling account of the fate of more than 40,000 Europeans captured by North African pirates and enslaved in Arab states, held to ransom, occasionally rising to positions of power, or more commonly being worked to death. That all this happened in the 1700's is no excuse for it having been lost as a story for so long.

A wonderful evocation of the white slave trade in Morocco during the 17th-19th centuries. Milton is a very good writer who brings the story of the slaves and their captors to life.

I had never heard of Moroccan ruler Sultan Moulay Ismail prior to this book but what a find! For his efforts in devising truly eye popping forms of torture, the Sultan truly deserves a lifetime achievement award at the Dictator's Hall of Fame annual dinner.

As a chap who likes to think he knows his words, I was disconcerted to find a number of words in the opening pages that were completely new to me. However, once I had quietly referred to a dictionary and then pretended I knew the words all along, the page turning qualities of "White Gold" became apparent and I thoroughly enjoyed the book, although I'd caution that only those with strong stomachs should attempt any passages dealing with the Sultan's ingenious list of tortures. ( )

Fascinating account of the white slave trade in North Africa, in the 17th to 19th centuries, centering on the experiences of Cornishman Thomas Pellow who survived 23 years in captivity, returning to England to tell his tale. Giles Milton makes full use of his sources, telling the overarching story with due reference to Thomas Pellow. It sounds horrific, it was horrific but it is a rollicking good read. ( )