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The Black Count
- Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
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Publisher's summary
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY • ONE OF ESQUIRE’S BEST BIOGRAPHIES OF ALL TIME
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.
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 at the height of the Revolution—until he met an implacable enemy he could not defeat.
The Black Count is simultaneously a riveting adventure story, a lushly textured evocation of 18th-century France, and a window into the modern world’s first multi-racial society. 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." But it is also a heartbreaking story of the enduring bonds of love between a father and son.
Critic reviews
"From pike-wielding mobs to prisoners locked in a fortress tower, The Black Count, a fascinating, detailed account of the life of Alexandre Dumas' father, is as action packed as The Count of Monte Cristo. Unlike Dumas' famous adventure novel, however, Reiss' incredible tale is true." (Candice Millard, New York Times best-selling author of The River of Doubt and Destiny of the Republic)
2013, NAACP Image Award, Nominated
2012, National Book Critics Circle Awards, Finalist
2013, PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography, Short-listed
2013, Phillis Wheatley Book Award, Short-listed
2012, Plutarch Award, Finalist
2013, Pulitzer Prize, Winner
“Rousing and thought-provoking, The Black Count is an adventure like no other. I marveled at every twist and turn of this remarkable true story, brought to life with the charm and personal touch that has become the trademark of Tom Reiss.” (Laurence Bergreen, New York Times bestselling author of Columbus and Over the Edge of the World)
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Stephen R. Platt is widely respected for his incisive nonfiction, particularly in regard to his knowledge and understanding of China. With Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom, Platt details the absorbing narrative of the Taiping Rebellion, which resulted in the loss of 20 million lives. Occurring in the 1850s, this is the story of a cultural movement characterized by intriguing personages such as influential military strategist Zeng Guofan and brilliant Taiping leader Hong Rengan.
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InTOLerable Reader
- By Adam on 07-07-12
By: Stephen R. Platt
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Lone Star Nation
- How a Ragged Army of Courageous Volunteers Won the Battle for Texas Independence
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- Narrated by: Don Leslie
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Lone Star Nation is the gripping story of Texas' precarious journey to statehood, from its early colonization in the 1820s to the shocking massacres of Texas loyalists at the Alamo and Goliad by the Mexican army, from its rough-and-tumble years as a land overrun by the Comanches to its day of liberation as an upstart republic.
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Texas: From Spanish colony to statehood
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For Liberty and Glory
- Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions
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On April 18, 1775, a riot over the price of flour broke out in the French city of Dijon. That night, across the Atlantic, Paul Revere mounted the fastest horse he could find and kicked it into a gallop. So began what have been called the "sister revolutions" of France and America. In a single, thrilling narrative, this audiobook tells the story of those revolutions and shows just how deeply intertwined they actually were.
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Excellent presentation
- By Hal on 08-20-12
By: James R. Gaines
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The Politically Incorrect Guide to the British Empire
- By: H. W. Crocker III
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Nothing offends liberals more than Western imperialism—it is racism, sexism, and chauvinism all in one. And of course the epitome of Western imperialism is the British Empire, covering at its height a quarter of the globe’s surface and ruling a quarter of the world’s population. Here, best-selling author H. W. Crocker III exposes how the British Empire was actually one of the greatest establishers and defenders of freedom in history.
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More Propaganda than History
- By Mike on 10-21-19
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Toussaint Louverture
- A Revolutionary Life
- By: Philippe Girard
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Philippe Girard shows how Toussaint Louverture transformed himself from lowly freedman into revolutionary hero as the mastermind of the bloody slave revolt of 1791. By 1801, Louverture was governor of the colony where he had once been a slave. But his lifelong quest to be accepted as a member of the colonial elite ended in despair: he spent the last year of his life in a French prison cell. His example nevertheless inspired anticolonial and Black nationalist movements well into the 20th century.
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very powerful story
- By jim on 01-06-17
By: Philippe Girard
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George Washington
- The Wonder of the Age
- By: John Rhodehamel
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
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As editor of the award-winning Library of America collection of George Washington's writings and a curator of the great man's original papers, John Rhodehamel has established himself as an authority of our nation's preeminent founding father. Rhodehamel examines George Washington as a public figure, arguing that the man - who first achieved fame in his early twenties - is inextricably bound to his mythic status.
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Not what I expected for an unabridged book
- By David Osborne Jr. on 04-13-17
By: John Rhodehamel
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Peter the Great
- His Life and World
- By: Robert K. Massie
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 43 hrs and 38 mins
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This superbly told story brings to life one of the most remarkable rulers––and men––in all of history and conveys the drama of his life and world. The Russia of Peter's birth was very different from the Russia his energy, genius, and ruthlessness shaped. Crowned co-Tsar as a child of ten, after witnessing bloody uprisings in the streets of Moscow, he would grow up propelled by an unquenchable curiosity, everywhere looking, asking, tinkering, and learning, fired by Western ideas.
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Narrater ruins everything
- By BrendaLouQuilts on 12-30-11
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Forgotten Patriots
- The Untold Story of American Prisoners During the Revolutionary War
- By: Edwin G. Burrows
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Forgotten Patriots is the first-ever account of what took place in these hellholes. The result is a unique perspective on the Revolutionary War as well as a sobering commentary on how Americans have remembered our struggle for independence---and how much we have forgotten.
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Great audiobook
- By Phillip Goodson on 05-15-09
By: Edwin G. Burrows
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Light-Horse Harry Lee
- The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero
- By: Ryan Cole
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
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Henry Lee III - whose nickname, "Light-Horse," came from his legendary exploits with mounted troops and skill in the saddle - was a dashing cavalry commander and hero of America's War for Independence. By now most Americans have forgotten about Light-Horse Harry Lee, the father of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, but this new biography reveals he may be one of the most fascinating figures in our nation's history. A daring military commander, Lee was also an early American statesman whose passionate argument in favor of national unity helped ratify the Constitution.
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Outstanding biography
- By MH on 12-24-20
By: Ryan Cole
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Napoleon
- A Life
- By: Adam Zamoyski
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 27 hrs and 10 mins
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The story of Napoleon has been written many times. In some versions, he is a military genius, in others a war-obsessed tyrant. Here, historian Adam Zamoyski cuts through the mythology and explains Napoleon against the background of the European Enlightenment and what he was himself seeking to achieve. This most famous of men is also the most hidden of men, and Zamoyski dives deeper than any previous biographer to find him. Beautifully written, Napoleon brilliantly sets the man in his European context.
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Fascinating
- By Jean on 04-01-19
By: Adam Zamoyski
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América
- The Epic Story of Spanish North America, 1493-1898
- By: Robert Goodwin
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At the conclusion of the American Revolution, half the modern United States was part of the vast Spanish Empire. The year after Columbus' great voyage of discovery, in 1492, he claimed Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for Spain. For the next 300 years, thousands of proud Spanish conquistadors and their largely forgotten Mexican allies went in search of glory and riches from Florida to California. Many died; few triumphed. Some were cruel; some were curious; some were kind. Missionaries and priests yearned to harvest Indian souls for God through baptism and Christian teaching.
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A Narration That is Difficult to Follow
- By Amazon Customer on 05-24-19
By: Robert Goodwin
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Killing Jesus
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- Narrated by: Bill O'Reilly
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Millions of people have thrilled to best-selling authors Bill O'Reilly and historian Martin Dugard's Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln, works of nonfiction that have changed the way we view history. Now the anchor of The O'Reilly Factor details the events leading up to the murder of the most influential man in history: Jesus of Nazareth. Nearly 2,000 years after this beloved and controversial young revolutionary was brutally killed by Roman soldiers, more than 2.2 billion human beings attempt to follow his teachings and believe he is God.
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The Jesus story in context
- By Kimberly on 10-01-13
By: Bill O'Reilly, and others
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Narration
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What listeners say about The Black Count
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- C. Kevin
- 03-12-23
Enlightening!!
This was a fascinating look into the forgotten history of one of France’s true republican heroes! It also serves as a stark reminder of the degree to which humanity has deprived itself due to racist attitudes and beliefs. It also reminds us that the enlightened principles which undergirded the French Revolution, just like those for the American Revolution, were mere lofty words on paper in light of the way that each of those societies treated their most marginalized members thereafter—in direct contradiction to those lofty words!
My personal takeaway: In a world of Napoleons, be a Dumas!
Also, the narration may be the best I have heard from any narrator—he was outstanding!
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-28-12
Excellent story and fascinating history lesson
Where does The Black Count rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
This is one of the best historical audiobooks in my library. Really drew me in to the real-life details of the French revolutionary period and the début of Napoleon Bonaparte as well as the start of the Dumas family fame. Different in perspective from Dickens' Tale of Two Cities and from Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo, The Black Count speaks of the political and military roles in the revolution.
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- Steven
- 03-05-13
Inspiration behind the inspiration is inspiring!
If you could sum up The Black Count in three words, what would they be?
Fascinating historical gem.
What did you like best about this story?
I have always loved the tales woven by Alexandre Dumas. In this story I found that the father was the real life prototype for his famous son's best heroes. As a man and a father I found that to be very appealing.
Which character – as performed by Paul Michael – was your favorite?
Being a historical narrative rather than a novel, this question is not really relevant. The reader was adequate to the task neither making or breaking the value of the audiobook.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No, I didn't find "The Black Count" to be so compelling that I couldn't walk away from it for a while, but it certainly held my interest while I was able to listen. As a non-fiction recounting of a man's life and times it was better than most.
Any additional comments?
This audiobook really fleshed out for me a time in history (i.e. the French revolution) which has been somewhat lacking and it did it in a way which has caused me to search for other material pertaining to the life of slaves in the Caribbean, especially Haiti. I found "The Black Count" to be a very enjoyable and worthwhile investment in time and a book credit.
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- Timothy P.
- 09-16-15
Amazing
I couldn't stop listening. This book was an eye opening view of the Revolution and how it both freed people and destroyed them.
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- Felicia J
- 08-29-13
A man too good for his times
Tom Reiss’s Pulitzer-Prize winning book is both a compelling biography of a forgotten hero and a concise, riveting account of a revolutionary decade in French and European history.
Alex Dumas, father of the author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, took advantage of a narrow window of opportunity for black and mixed-race people opened by the French Revolution. He rose to the military rank of general, loved by his troops and celebrated for his bravery, combat prowess and battlefield heroism. His famous son Alexandre used his father’s life – including Alex’s two years of captivity as a prisoner of war – as the inspiration for some of the most famous episodes in his novels.
Alex was born the son of a French aristocratic planter and a black slave mother in the French sugar colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti). His father eventually took him to France (but temporarily sold him first to pay for his own passage) and gave him a gentleman’s education. Alex learned courtly manners as well as fencing and riding, excelling at all these arts. He enlisted in the military under his mother’s name of Dumas, and when the French overthrew their monarchy, quickly rose in the ranks of the revolutionary army.
Reiss used Alex’s life as a springboard to discuss the cruel French sugar trade and the efforts at black emancipation brought about by revolutionary ideals. In the French colonies, slaves did the back-breaking work of harvesting sugar cane, subject to all kinds of cruelties and indignities, while their white masters got rich. But sexual relationships between masters and slaves resulted in a class of affluent free blacks, who formed their own cultured society in Saint-Domingue. In the meantime, liberal attorneys back home worked to secure the rights of black and mixed-race people lucky enough to set foot on French soil. The monarchy attempted to thwart emancipation but was often defeated in French courts.
The French Revolution swept away distinctions of race and class – at least in theory. Enlisting just before the fall of the Bastile, Alex rose quickly in rank to command huge armies as the French attempted to spread their revolutionary zeal to neighboring countries. Before listening to this book, I had known nothing of the wars fought with foreign powers, even as the revolution turned bloody at home. Alex battled with Austrian monarchists in the French Alps, and later with Mamelukes in Egypt as part of Napoleon’s ill-fated expedition. He prided himself on riding first into battle in front of his men, but his brash outspokenness sometimes put him at odds with other generals, including despot-in-training Napoleon.
Throughout the book, Reiss painted an ultimately tragic picture of a man who was simply too good for his times. Idealistic and principled, Alex abhorred cruelty and would not allow his men to plunder conquered villages or to mistreat the inhabitants. He protected the weak and powerless, no matter which side they were on. His personality shines through in the many excerpts from his letters quoted by Reiss, including his sincere love for his wife and children. Alex’s humanity stood in sharp contrast to the atrocities committed by his countrymen during the Terror, and later, to the duplicitous backstabber Napoleon.
Alex’s butting of heads with the little Corsican dictator eventually proved his downfall. As First Counsel, Napoleon not only swept away black emancipation, but denied the general and his family the pension due him. After a nightmarish sea crossing, capture in Naples and long months in a cell, Alex died in France and was quickly forgotten, swept aside by the tide of history.
The book’s narrator, Paul Michael, was the sort of skillful reader who disappeared into the text. His reading was so pitch-perfect, I did not focus at all on his idiosyncrasies, but on the compelling story unfolding in my ears.
The highest praise I can give this book is it made me eager to learn much more about the French Revolution, the rise of Napoleon and the slave revolts that led to the founding of the modern nation of Haiti.
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- D. Fyler
- 06-26-17
A stunner
A Biography of Gen Alex Dumas, father of the great writer. I am speechless. This is an amazing book not only detailing the life of an all but forgotten hero, but a time of the French Revolution and the beginnings of Napoleons domination. Truly unforgettable.
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- Carolina Jules
- 05-12-18
Fascinating story!!
This books reads like a novel itself! Absolutely loved it. Couldn't stop talking about it for months.
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- E
- 01-02-13
a curiosity stoking whirlwind through history
The Black Count was a fun, fascinating listen. As Reiss makes clear early, there's not exactly a surplus of historical source documentation on the titular general - much of what's new here comes from one furious visit to a single safe. But Reiss artfully combines these documents (letters, military communiques, etc.) with his son's (often subtly exaggerated) retellings of events and insightful summaries of relevant history. The result is that the reader/listener feels like they're taking part in an exciting investigation, criss-crossing the many worlds that Dumas inhabited -from his roots in brutal 18th century colonial Saint-Domengue to Enlightenment and Napoleonic France to the shadows of a Naples prison. I found it consistently engaging - it made me want to read up on a long list of subjects.
While it was certainly a five star listen for me, my only hesitation might be in recommending this would be to someone deeply familiar with French history. If you're well read on their colonies, the enlightenment and Revolution, there might be a bit too much survey of well-covered events. For me, though, this was a refreshing way to engage with historical subjects I haven't given enough attention to.
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- Sam
- 03-15-17
Two in one
The feature story on General Dumas is fascinating. The back story on the dynamics of the French empire is informative. Together it makes for a great book. The narrator is very good.
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- BallaghMan
- 04-15-19
Simply brilliant read / listen.
This is a great counter balance to the biography of Napoleon. In that book he’s treated fairly sympathetically. In this book the story of the Black Count occurs on the backdrop of French colonialism in the Caribbean and elsewhere as well as the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon. It’s a ripping yarn as good as any fictional adventure. Napoleon does not come out as well. But Count Dumas is portrayed as a hero who unfortunately suffers a heroic / tragic life because of the time that was in it. Strongly recommended.
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