Instaread Summaries 
Summary of The Black Count 
by Tom Reiss | Includes Analysis

Summary of The Black Count by Tom Reiss | Includes Analysis 

Preview:

The Black Count is the Pulitzer Prize winning biography written by author Tom

Reiss. The book traces the life of Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie, also

known as Alexandre Dumas, a black general who fought in the French Revolution.

The narrative is told through historical documents as well as writings of Dumas’

son, the novelist Alexandre Dumas, who wrote The Three Musketeers and The

Count of Monte Cristo.

Dumas was born in 1762 in the Saint-Domingue French sugar colony, modern day

Haiti. His father, Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, was a French

nobleman who became a marquis. After establishing a Jeremie coffee plantation in

the 1750s, he purchased a slave named Marie Cessette and they had four children

together.

Antoine sold his wife and children into slavery, but pawned his favorite son,

Dumas, and, in August of 1776, redeemed him. Dumas and Antoine moved to

Saint-Germain- en-Laye, a small city west of Paris…

PLEASE NOTE: This is an unofficial summary and analysis of the book and NOT the original book. 

Inside this Instaread Summary of The Black Count:

• Summary of entire book

• Introduction to the Important People in the book

• Analysis of the Themes and Author’s Style

About the Author

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