Possibly of interest?
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=2681
White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa’s One Million European Slaves
excerpt:
Not content with hijacking ships, the Islamic slave traders would make “home visits” to Europe’s coastal villages and kidnap family members. So popular was the demand for Christian slave labour that some rich Barbary pirates, funded by even richer Sultans, pillaged Reykjavik and returned with 400 very frightened Icelanders. Distance was obviously no barrier. Later, travelling Americans also became sitting ducks.
Does this sound uncomfortably familiar? Like some Islamic extremists of today, the Sultans laughed about holding Europe to ransom. They were rarely met with force.
Obviously, Thomas Pellow’s experience takes place within a wider context, and Giles Milton gives us this. As a learned writer, he provides his audience with sufficient primary resources and solid secondary ones. Of particular interest, are the graphic illustrations of torture techniques and photographs of the now crumbling Meknes palace built by Christian slaves. This is not for the faint hearted.
Whereas, the tireless work of feisty born-again Christians led to the abolition of slavery in America, this was not the case in North Africa and other Islamic strongholds. Ironically, years after Pellow’s death, a descendant of his took to the seas to fight against the barbaric slave masters. Without revealing too much, the book’s amazing epilogue reads like a tribute to the actions over words principle. Giles Milton’s White Gold is a treasure, and we owe it to North Africa’s one million European white slaves to never forget. They were a stolen generation.
But this book is not just about victims. Many brave English souls who advocated for the abolition of black slavery turned their attention to the plight of European captives. Groups like the Society of Knights Liberators of the White Slaves of Africa (pdf file 684KB) were instrumental in creating awareness. So too were some Church of England churches. Yet, after marathon “talkfests” with barbarian traders, the abolitionists only made significant gains after adopting hawkish strategies. Arguably, this lesson has been lost to some of us. As a wise man once said, “If you want peace, prepare for war”. And, if you want a good read, consider getting your hands on a copy of White Gold.