The Black Count by Tom Reiss ****

The Black Count by Tom Reiss (Pulitzer Prize for Biography, non-fiction) recounts the brief period at the end of the 18^th century when France was a multiracial society with mixed-race marriage and education led by Black politicians and generals. Prior to this, France depended on enslaved labor for its sugar plantations. This moment of liberté, égalité, fraternité began with the French Revolution and ended with Napoleon, who returned to the racism that survives to the present time. The narrative follows the life of General Alex Dumas (father of Count of Monte Cristo author Alexandre Dumas.)

General Alex Dumas was born 25 March 1762 in Jérémie, Saint-Domingue (today Haiti). He was the son of a French nobleman, Marquis Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie and Marie-Cessette Dumas, an enslaved African woman he owned. Alexandre Dumas, author of Count of Monte Cristo, was his son. The Black Count by Tom Reiss highlights many instances where the Count of Monte Cristo draws directly on incidents from the life of General Alex Dumas.

Though the book presents itself as a biography, long sections do not mention General Alex Dumas, either because the historical record is missing or because other characters (Napoleon) play a more significant role. The author occasionally appears frustrated under the requirements of writing history. “They were finally reunited in Paris at the apartment of Dumas’s old friend General Brune. One can only imagine how changed Marie-Louise found her husband, and how hard she must have worked to conceal her reaction. But their mutual happiness and relief can’t be doubted.” I can imagine a novelist retelling the life of Alex Dumas in a more engaging version.

The book closes quoting contemporary French activist Claude Ribbe: “Why did General Dumas not get the Legion of Honor?” he fumed. “Every revolutionary general got one! Why did they not rebuild his statue after the Nazis destroyed it? We have statues on every block here in Paris. Racism, racism, pure racism.”

France's most famous, forgotten Black general. Excellent history disguised as a biography.

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