“Dumas was possibly the strongest man in the French army.… In the riding school he liked to stand up in the stirrups, take hold of an overhead beam, and lift himself and his horse bodily off the ground.” — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“At first, the Jacobin Club was not the most radical club. It was known for its lively, collegial debates and for attracting diverse and… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“energized and emboldened delegates of the Third Estate, the “99 percent”—in reality, closer to 96 percent—of the French population who paid the bulk of… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“Suddenly Paris fashion-that bellwether for the French mind-had to be à l'Amérique: tailors manufactured "insurgent coats" and "lightning-conductor dresses" (in honor of Ben Franklin,… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“The way it had originally worked was that each of the three estates got an equal say: each had an equal number of “deputies”… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“The bitter irony was that the financial crisis had largely been caused by French support of the American patriots; in getting back at the… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“Man is born free but is everywhere in chains,” wrote Jean-Jacques Rousseau in The Social Contract in 1762. A generation of crusading lawyers put… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“When they weren’t running meat—or rum—they worked as salt miners or piloted small boats along the coast. These highland Saint-Dominguans, along with more recent… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“Unhappiness cannot but draw tighter the bonds which hold us fast to one another," General Dumas had written to Marie-Louise as he made his… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“Wednesday, June 17, 1789, France went from a system where only the nobility and the church had power to a system where, at least… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“in 1788, he had become infatuated by the American republic and its spirit of “simplicity, goodness, and that dignity of man which is the… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“Alex Dumas had the confidence that accompanies a life of physical exploits, along with an unwavering faith in the rightness of his actions that… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“This mulatto gentleman could powder and dress as he liked, however, because he was acknowledged to be the greatest swordsman in Europe. Over the… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“the concept, going back to the misty foundations of the nation, that France was the land of the free—that no one should be kept… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“Meanwhile, Napoleon’s younger brother, Lucien Bonaparte, had managed to get himself elected to the Council of Five Hundred—and was even made its president. The… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“...the former King Louis XVI, who, after titles were abolished, was now simply called "Louis Capet" - a mocking reference to his distant ancestor… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
