The Black Count
Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo (pulitzer Prize for Biography)
Crown · Print & ebook · May 14, 2013
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “richly imagined biography” (The New York Times Book Review) of General Alex Dumas, who rose from slavery to command vast armies in the French Revolutionary Wars—and whose exploits were immortalized in his son’s novels The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers “Fascinating [and] entertaining.”—The Wall Street Journal “Remarkable.”—The Boston Globe “A truly amazing story.”—NPR A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, The New Republic, NPR, Salon, Essence General Alex Dumas is a man almost unknown today, yet his story is strikingly familiar—because his son, the novelist Alexandre Dumas, used his larger-than-life feats as inspiration for such classics as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- A biography that reads with the charge of a historical novel.
- Themes
- biography, historical revolution, racial identity
- Pacing
- Steady
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.
GrantRon Chernow47% matchShares Military Lives
OurikaClaire de Duras48% match
WashingtonRon Chernow, illustrated49% match
The Last Duel (movie Tie-in)Eric Jager48% matchShares French History
Brave CompanionsDavid McCullough, Simon & Schuster Audio47% match
King: a LifeJonathan Eig46% matchShares Black & African American Lives
My Bondage, My FreedomFrederick Douglass45% matchShares Black & African American Lives
For younger readers: Alexander Hamilton, Revolutionary, The Declaration, the Sword and the Spy, A Sitting in St. James
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “richly imagined biography” (The New York Times Book Review) of General Alex Dumas, who rose from slavery to command vast armies in the French Revolutionary Wars—and whose exploits were immortalized in his son’s novels The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers “Fascinating [and] entertaining.”—The Wall Street Journal “Remarkable.”—The Boston Globe “A truly amazing story.”—NPR A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, The New Republic, NPR, Salon, Essence General Alex Dumas is a man almost unknown today, yet his story is strikingly familiar—because his son, the novelist Alexandre Dumas, used his larger-than-life feats as inspiration for such classics as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.
Continue reading
But hidden behind General Dumas’s swashbuckling adventures was an even more incredible secret: he was the son of a black slave—who rose higher in the white world than any man of his race would before our own time. Born in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), Alex Dumas made his way to Paris, where he rose to command armies of more than 50,000 men at the height of the Revolution. No matter how high he soared, Dumas continued to live by his blade and his boldness in the face of overwhelming odds. Yet, because of his unwavering principles, he ultimately became a threat to Napoleon himself. Time magazine called The Black Count “one of those quintessentially human stories of strength and courage that sheds light on the historical moment that made it possible.” It is also a window into the modern world’s first multiracial society and a heartbreaking story of the enduring bonds of love between a father and son. FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD
History With Voltage
A biography that reads with the charge of a historical novel.
Come here for
- historical biography with literary echoes
- glory, revolution, betrayal, and the Monte Cristo connection
Expect
- Pulitzer-level biographical sweep
- eighteenth- and nineteenth-century history in one long arc
Where it sits
| French History | 59% |
|---|---|
| Military Lives | 38% |
| Black & African American Lives | 34% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Lives in History
- French History
- 18th-Century History
- Authors
- Tom Reiss
- Publisher
- Crown
- Published
- May 14, 2013
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- biography · historical revolution · racial identity
- Reading lane
- Lives in History