The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss


The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss




I heard about this book a few years ago. I have never read anything by Alexander Dumas but I feel like I’ve always known about his books. The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers had all been made into movies that I’ve browsed through or knew of. Not to mention The Man in the Iron Mask featuring those same musketeers and Leonardo DiCaprio, a movie that I have watched countless times over. I knew these characters for the most part but I had no idea what the inspiration might have been for them. Then I came across this book which states that Alexander Dumas’s dad, a Black man, was the novelist inspiration for much of his work and I became very intrigued. I had assumed that Dumas was white. Mostly because all of the depictions of his characters were white and because people usually make it a point to point out when an author is Black. I picked this book up with the intention of learning the story of General Dumas and then reading The Count of Monte Cristo.

The story of Thomas-Alexander Dumas is incredible. He was the child of a white aristocrat and a Black slave woman. He was born in Saint-Domingue and would be the only one of his siblings to go to France with his father, the others would be sold into slavery. At a time when France was fighting for equality for all of their citizens and slavery was being openly fought against, Thomas-Alexander would become a soldier and would attain the rank of Brigadier General in his thirties. He would be an integral part of the revolution but as the tide began to turn back to racist ideologies and with the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, Dumas’s fortune would fall. He would end up being a prisoner of war for two years, finally released to a France that had completely changed. His family lived in squalor. Laws were being enforced with racist sentiments and a once well regarded and respected Black man would die in squalor.

Reiss more than anything in this novel presented a clear history of France reflected through the life of Thomas-Alexander Dumas. He by all accounts seems to have been an extraordinary man whose mere presence on the battlefield inspired others. He was also a loving husband and compassionate father. He was just and fair and an incredible soldier. But his legacy is no longer well known. As Reiss states at the end of this book there are no statues of General Dumas anywhere in France, even though he led many campaigns that were overwhelming victories for France during the revolution.

I really enjoyed this book. It was more than just the story of General Dumas, it was a history lesson in the French Revolution. Reiss used correspondences, military records, General Dumas’s journal entries and the memoir of his son, Alexander Dumas to provide insight into the character of Dumas. Told chronologically, Reiss left no stone unturned and provided a large amount of information. It was extremely well written. I’ll be reading The Count of Monte Cristo now and looking for the traces of the General I have come to know in these pages. I highly recommend this book. I give this 5 out of 5 stars.

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