Alexandre Dumas wrote The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, but his real life outpaced both novels. Born the grandson of a Haitian slave and a French nobleman, Dumas fought duels, ran through fortunes, and built a château he could not afford.

This episode traces how Dumas became the most commercially successful author in French history while living at a pace that would have killed most of his characters.

• How his mixed-race heritage shaped his ambitions in 19th-century France
• The factory-style writing operation that produced over 100,000 pages
• His political adventures during the revolutions of 1830 and 1848
• Why his extravagant lifestyle left him nearly bankrupt at death