Reiss begins and ends his book with General Dumas’ death and the impact it had on his four-year-old namesake. The third layer to this book is the enduring and loving relationship between the General and his son (who eventually became the novelist Alexandre Dumas).
This expression of egalite and fraternite lasted until Napoleon took power and (with the rich planter class backing him) reversed all those hard-won freedoms and rights. They were the first country in Europe to not only abolish slavery, but also to grant full rights of citizenship to “men of color.” Free black men voted in assemblies, studied in elite French academies, fought in integrated military units, and rose to positions of authority and command in the military and government. The French who fought in the American War for Independence came back to France with a revolutionary spirit and a thirst for equality–not only for themselves, but all Frenchman, free and slave. But he would not have been allowed to during any earlier time in European history. General Alex Dumas reached his pinnacle through his own intelligence, perseverance, personal bravery, and ambition.
While many of us may know the basics of the French Revolution, and some have studied the gory details, this book gives us a new angle. His adventures and battles are a compelling story all by themselves. His dispatches from the front are signed simply “Alex Dumas.” He rises through the ranks from private to General and is Commander of the Calvary in Napoleon’s disastrous Egyptian campaign. Born Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie by the time he joins the army, he rejects his father’s name and title (Marquis de la Pailleterie) and takes his slave mother’s name–Dumas. This book won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for biography and richly deserves it for introducing us to the inspiring story of a man who went from slave to General in the French Revolutionary Army. They’ve stood the test of time and proudly wear the title “classic.” Who knew the stories were based on the life of the author’s father, a remarkable man born to a minor French noble and a slave woman on the island of Saint-Domingue (Haiti)? The Count of Monte Cristo, The Man in the Iron Mask, The Three Musketeers, all enduring staples of adventure fiction.
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