The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Black Count is a biography of Alex Dumas, the father of Alexandre Dumas who wrote the Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, and many other works. Alex Dumas is virtually unknown today, but he was a distinguished soldier of Revolutionary France and rose to the rank of General; he enlisted as a private soldier in the army during the last years of the monarchy.

Dumas was born in what is now Haiti, the son of a minor noble from Normandy and his slave mistress. When he was about 14 he moved to France with his father, who had inherited the title of marquis, making Dumas a count of mixed race, hence the title of the book. Family financial problems led Dumas to enlist in the French army and take his mother’s last name. When the revolution came, Alex Dumas became a firm believer in the revolutionary ideals for the rest of his life, which did not help his relationship with another distinguished French soldier – General Bonaparte.

Alex Dumas died when his son, the future novelist, was only four years old. But many of the episodes of his father’s life were adapted into portions of the novels of Alexandre Dumas. I feel the need to read some of these novels again, now that I understand more of the background.

The book is well-written and definitely holds the readers interest. It’s more than just the story of a heroic soldier of Revolutionary France; it also talks about the politics of the revolutionary period in France, in particular the politics of race. It is interesting that Dumas arrives in France at a time when racial equality becomes a reality – which allows him to become a general, commanding forces composed of white, black and mixed race soldiers – and yet by the time of his death, much of this progress in race relations has been undone. Perhaps there is a lesson here for all of us.