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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