The Black Count
Glory, revolution, betrayal and the real Count of Monte Cristo
$32.39
- Paperback
432 pages
- Release Date
1 May 2013
Summary
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize 2013.
“Completely absorbing” - Amanda Foreman
“Enthralling” - Guardian
“The Three Musketeers! The Count of Monte Cristo! The stories of course are fiction. But here a prize-winning author shows us that the inspiration for the swashbuckling stories was, in fact, Dumas’s own father, Alex - the son of a marquis and a black slave… He achieved a giddy ascent from private in the Dragoons to the rank of general; an outsider who had grown up among …
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780099575139 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0099575132 |
| Author: | Tom Reiss |
| Publisher: | Vintage Publishing |
| Imprint: | Vintage |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 432 |
| Release Date: | 1 May 2013 |
| Weight: | 376g |
| Dimensions: | 31mm x 129mm x 199mm |
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Critics Review
Fascinating
Richly detailed, highly researched and completely absorbing… A triumph – Amanda Foreman
Totally thrilling… Brings to life one of history’s great forgotten characters – Simon Sebag Montefiore
We believe we know the glories of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. We believe we understand the horror of slavery and the oppression of Africans. But what is the relationship between the grand goal of liberation and the deep tragedy of racism? As Reiss shows us, answers can be found in the extraordinary life of a forgotten French hero of the great revolutionary campaigns - a hero who was black – Timothy Snyder
Tom Reiss can do it all: gather startling research and write inspired prose; find life’s great stories and then tell them with real brilliance. In The Black Count the master journalist-storyteller opens the door to the truth behind one of literature’s most exciting stories, and opens it wide enough to show the delicate beauty of the lives within – Strauss, National Book Critics Circle Award winning author of Half a Life and Chang and Eng
A terrific story…(Reiss) is to be congratulated for retrieving such a splendid character from the dustbin of history – Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *
A terrific story, every bit as good as one of Dumas’s novels, and Reiss tells it with suitable gusto and swagger – John Preston * Mail on Sunday *
A rarefied, intimate literary study delineating a roiling revolutionary era * Bookseller *
Brilliant… Reiss directs a full scale production that jangles with drawn sabres, trembles with dashing deeds and resonates with the love of a son for a remarkable father – Hugh MacDonald * Glasgow Herald *
Fascinating * Robin’s Reviews *
Enthralling…a swashbuckling tale – Nigel Jones * Guardian *
Tom Reiss
Born in 1964, Tom Reiss is an American author and journalist who lives in New York. He is the author of The Orientalist, an acclaimed biography of Lev Nussimbaum (aka Kurban Said) which was shortlisted for the 2006 Samuel Johnson Prize. The Black Count is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography 2013.
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