Book Review

The Black Count by Tom Reiss

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Genre: Nonfiction

The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo is a biography that is packed with adventure and drama and a smidgen of romance. It tells the story of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, the father of Alexandre Dumas. History buffs, you won’t want to miss reading this book.

Here’s a bare bones description of the life of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas:

Thomas-Alexandre was born in Saint-Domingue (which later became Haiti) in 1762. At the time, this was a colony of France, notable for sugar production and human rights violations on an epic scale. Thomas was the son of a French nobleman and a Black slave, Marie Cessette-Dumas. When Thomas was a teenager his father sold him, his mother, and his siblings so that he (the father) could raise money to reclaim his estate and move to France. Then the father bought Thomas back, but he left Thomas’ siblings and mother in slavery. Their fate is unknown.

Thomas went to France with his father and for a time he was spoiled rotten and got a great education and achieved some fame for his athleticism, horsemanship, and swordsmanship. Then his father remarried and reduced Thomas’ funds. Thomas took his mother’s last name (Dumas), and joined the French military where he became a famous general, lauded for his triumphs in the Alps. He married a white woman and they spent most of their time apart, but shared deeply affectionate letters. They had three children together.

After a campaign in Egypt he was sailing home when he was captured and imprisoned for two years in Italy. He was finally released and went home. Having fallen out of favor with Napoleon, he was unable to get a new military posting, and he suffered from ill health stemming from his imprisonment. He doted on his son, Alexandre, until he died at the age of 43 in 1806. Alexandre went on to write The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. The latter novel was largely inspired by his father’s imprisonment.

painting of Dumas on horseback looking like a complete bad ass

Obviously, that’s just the bare surface of what this biography talks about. The author, Tom Reiss, has clearly done a ton of research and shows it all off. This book is detailed and comprehensive even as it tackles the very confusing history of rebellions and revolutions in France, as well as France’s continually changing attitudes and laws regarding race and slavery. When Thomas was brought to France, slavery was legal in the colonies but illegal in mainland France – so once Thomas hit French soil, he was free. Later in his lifetime, slavery was abolished in the colonies as well, and Black citizens were active in education reform and politics. To anyone who might say that it’s impossible to have characters of color in historical romance in Europe because they weren’t there, Reiss essentially says, “You’re so very, very wrong.”

Oscar Issac gif says "Know that you're wrong"

Above all, this book is about adventure. In fact, it had a bit too much adventure for me – the amount of military history in this book is pretty mind-boggling. People who like military history will eat this right up. I have to admit that in some places I skimmed a bit.

Even though this book has to sort out so much stuff, it remains a page-turner. It’s informative and entertaining and mind-blowing. It challenges assumptions about race in France in the 1700s, but it also dazzles with drama, action, and intrigue. Even with skimming some of the military-heavy sections, this is the story of a remarkable person with so much happening in his lifetime. If it weren’t meticulously researched and flawless history, I would have had a hard time believing it all.

Alexandre Dumas - not a white dude!
Thomas’ son, Alexandre, author of Count of Monte Cristo and Three Musketeers
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The Black Count by Tom Reiss

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  1. Shan says:

    Im such a sucker for the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars. This book review gave me a serious case of grabby hands.

  2. Patricia says:

    I can’t wait to read this. I’ve already requested it from the library.

  3. Rebecca says:

    What assumptions about race in France in the 1700s does the book challenge? (If it fails to mention that in 1802 Napoleon *restored* slavery and sent an army to re-enslave the majority of the Haitian population, then I would say it’s not so much challenging assumptions about French history as confirming comfortable myths about the Revolution and Enlightenment being “universal” and for everyone.)

  4. kkw says:

    I loved this book!
    @Rebecca – it does talk about all the fluctuations in rights over the course of the revolution depending on who was in power, and how Napoleon restored slavery. It is definitely not a book for anyone who wants to admire Napoleon.

  5. MicheleKS says:

    I just finished reading this book and I loved it! It was cited as an inspiration for the character of Porthos in the recent BBC-TV series ‘The Musketeers’ so that’s how I heard about this book. Personally, this book made me want to march on Paris and demand that General Dumas be recognized right alongside his son.

  6. Meg says:

    I first heard about this on the “Revolutions” podcast by Mike Duncan (and if you’re a history buff, I highly recommend it and his earlier “History of Rome” podcast), and it’s been on my Audible wishlist ever since.

  7. Karenmc says:

    I have a copy sitting in my physical TBR pile, and an ebook copy on my Kindle. Moving up to the top.

  8. chacha1 says:

    I read this not long ago and it is GREAT. My concentration in grad school was on the French Revolution, and nearly everything in this book was new to me.

    It did make me completely furious with Napoleon, who was not my favorite guy to begin with. It should be made into a movie starring Chiwetel Ojiofor.

  9. I think this is available in Audio on Scribd! I know what my next car read is!

  10. Crystal says:

    I’ve been meaning to read this. I’d prefer the audio because I like my nonfiction read to me, but I know I have access to an overdrive that has it too. Once I’m done with Dead Wake, this will probably be the next one I go after.

  11. Cristiane says:

    Yes, yes, yes! This is such a wonderful book Completely fascinating. Great stuff.

  12. I love this book so much. I have a policy of only reading nonfiction during my commute, and when I was reading this book, I nearly missed my stop three days in a row. It is utterly absorbing. I recommend it to pretty much everyone.

  13. Karin says:

    I got this on Kindle ages ago, and never read it. Clearly, I have to.

  14. It’s been on my Kindle for ages and I keep meaning to start it. Now I will.

  15. Turophile says:

    I echo the other glowing comments. I read about on a sale notice here and picked it up. Excellent book.

  16. Konst. says:

    I did not read this one, but I heartily recommend “Le trois Dumas” by Andre Maurois, who tells the story of the granfather, father and son Dumas (the later wrote “Le Dame aux Camelias”). Anyway fantastic story – sometimes even more than the fiction they wrote :))

  17. SAO says:

    What’s interesting is that there are a number of notable black men is the history of Europe, but they tended to get forgotten. Pushkin, whom the Russians consider to be the greatest Russian writer, had a black grandfather, brought to the court of Peter the Great as a page, but who impressed the tsar with his intelligent and became a courtier as a result.

  18. Karin says:

    Indeed, SAO. I hope everyone has checked out http://medievalpoc.tumblr.com/

  19. Jamie says:

    I borrowed this from the library and pestered my 1812 obsessed husband until he got a copy on his Kindle too.

    Super fascinated to read it.

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