The History Files #42: The Black Count

This week we take a look at the origins of Alexander Dumas’ legendary literary figure, the Count of Monte Cristo. New writers are often told “write what you know”, and Dumas did exactly that. The heroic protagonists in his epic adventure tales were based on… his father; a larger-than-life individual who not only provided the characters for his writer son’s stories but many of their feats of derring-do.

Show notes and links:

* James II of England

* Elizabeth II

* Fort Ross, California (fortross.org)

* 1925 serum run to Nome (wikipedia.org)

* Hitler Becomes Army Commander (historyplace.com)

* The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, Tom Reiss (amazon.com)

* The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) (imdb.com)

* Fusil Charleville (wikipedia.org)

* The Count of Monte Cristo