Alexander Dumas, one of the best known French authors, wrote the book "The Count of Monte Cristo" that was considered a "classic" and fundamental to the advancement of the thriller genre. A book filled with multiple traditional thriller themes, the novel served as inspiration for many works in many different genres. Dumas, celebrated as a cultural icon at times, was prolific in many different genres and incorporated multiple themes into his work, most notably racism, as Dumas himself was 1/4 black.