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  • The Black Count

  • Glory, Revolution, Betrayal and the Real Count of Monte Cristo
  • By: Tom Reiss
  • Narrated by: Paul Michael
  • Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (25 ratings)

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The Black Count

By: Tom Reiss
Narrated by: Paul Michael
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Publisher's Summary

Winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

Who was the real Count of Monte Cristo? In this extraordinary biography, Tom Reiss traces the almost unbelievable life of the man who inspired not only Monte Cristo, but all three of the Musketeers: the novelist's own father.

Born in St. Dominigue in 1762, the son of a French nobleman and a sugar plantation slave, General Alexandre Dumas did not have an auspicious start in life. Things got worse when his father sold him into slavery to pay his passage back to Normandy. But six months later, Dumas' fortunes changed. His father bought him out of slavery and raised him in France, where Dumas went to the nation's finest schools and fencing academies, and having enrolled in the army became known as France's most handsome and strongest soldier. By the time Napoleon invaded Egypt, Dumas was his top cavalry commander.

But Napoleon was threatened by the physical prowess and popularity of this black nobleman. He engineered his disgrace and imprisonment, and to please the sugar growers reintroduced slavery. A brief flowering of freedom and equality was over and forgotten, but Dumas' legacy would live on in the novels of the son who adored him.

Reiss tells this tale with magisterial authority. Long years of research have led him across Europe, the Caribbean and the Middle East in search of forgotten documents. He has journeyed through the Alps where Dumas scaled unscalable ice cliffs. He has walked the streets of Cairo where Dumas' intrepid cavalry charge is still remembered. The result is an enthralling book that entertains, astounds and triumphantly resurrects a lost hero from the world's first multiracial society.

©2012 Tom Reiss (P)2014 Random House Audiobooks

What listeners say about The Black Count

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting Biography

This was a really nice, concise, focused story about the coolest guy you have never heard of. The author did a really good job of relating the story even if he fell in love with his subject a bit (a tendency of nearly all biographies I might add). The only reason for the 3 star rating is really my own bias about biographies. In general I find that they are too narrow and provide an unrealistic picture of a human as a hero or a villain, but this one was too interesting too pass up. If you like biographies, you'll love this book.

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4 people found this helpful

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The coolest guy ever

This story is proof that truth is stranger than fiction. The biography of Alexandre Dumas, father of the author also named Alexandre Dumas, is astonishing. Even if you don’t normal read non-fiction, I think you’ll enjoy this book.

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