ABSTRACT
This article proposes that scholars read Barbary captivity narratives not only within a particular national tradition but also in terms of larger economic and ideological processes. After a discussion of the ideological work in various English examples of the Barbary captivity narrative, the article undertakes a detailed analysis of Richard Hasleton’s Strange and Wonderful Things (1595). It concludes by showing how that text conceals the structural reality of the large-scale commercial system behind a set of religious features that emphasize the temptation or coercion to convert.
