No leader of modern times was more unique and more uniquely national than Charles de Gaulle. As founder and first President of the Fifth Republic, General de Gaulle saw himself 'carrying France on my shoulders'. When he first emerged on to the world stage in 1940, his insistence that he spoke for his nation might well have appeared impossibly arrogant for a recently promoted junior general who had never been elected to anything. But he personified many of the traits of his country which fascinate the rest of the world - its pride in itself, its intransigence, its historical and cultural heritage and its quasi-religious belief in the state. Le General, as he became known from 1940 on, appeared as if carved from a single monumental block, but was, in fact, extremely complex, a man with deep personal feelings and recurrent mood swings, devoted to his family and often seeking reassurance from those around him. Though insisting on discipline and loyalty from others, he was a great rebel. A grand visionary with a vast geo-political grasp and elephantine memory, he was also a supreme tactician with a taste for secrecy and the ability to out-flank opponents. This is a magisterial, sweeping biography of one of the great leaders of the twentieth century and of the country with which he so identified himself. Written with terrific verve and narrative skill, and yet rigorous and detailed, it brings alive as never before the private man as well as the public leader through exhaustive research and astute analysis.
The General
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Review
'Skilful and subtle ... brilliant' Douglas Hurd, Daily Telegraph 'A fine book' Ben Macintyre, the Times 'The best English-language biography of de Gaulle' --Scotsman 'Finely nuanced and highly readable ... President Sarkozy has much to learn from this tale' --Andrew Hussey, Observer 'Most readable and sensible judgments' --Max Hastings, Sunday Times 'Monumental ... most enjoyable' --Don Morrison, Financial Times 'Magisterial' Economist 'A compelling portrait' Literary Review 'A compelling portrait' Literary Review July Issue 'Skilful and subtle ... brilliant' Douglas Hurd, Daily Telegraph 'A fine book' Ben Macintyre, the Times 'The best English-language biography of de Gaulle' Scotsman 'Magisterial' Economist 'Finely nuanced and highly readable ... President Sarkozy has much to learn from this tale' Andrew Hussey, Observer 'Most readable and sensible judgments' Max Hastings, Sunday Times 'Monumental ... most enjoyable' Don Morrison, Financial Times "Beautifully written, and based on exhaustive reading..." New Statesman: 26th July 2010 "Fenby is superlatively good at turning a mass of facts into a clear, well-paced narrative that will be immediately accessible to readers" Times Higher Education: 29th July 2010 " The most thorough and the most enjoyable since France's Jean Lacouture." Financial Times 26/06/10 "Fenby is able to write about French political culture from the inside and the De Gaulle he portrays escapes easy classification" The Observer 27th June 2010 "Sympathetic but objective and detailed" Morning Star: 14th July 2010 "Fenby tells his remarkable story quite admirably in a fast-moving narrative that is nevertheless detailed and always, I think, fair to both De Gaulle and to this enemies" The Scotsman: 19th June 2010 'This biography by former Observer editor paints a memorable picture of a complex, highly-strung man whose lofty public images belied his inner torments.' Press Association 'Highly readable' Catholic Herald 23/07 'This astute biogrpahy gets to the heart of a French enigma' Lancashire Evening Post 10/07 'Beautifully written, and based on exhaustive reading' New Statesman 26/7 'Fenby is superlatively good at turning a mass of facts into a clear, well-paced narrative that will be immediately accessible to readers' Times Higher Education 29/7 'The most thorough and the most enjoyable since France's Jean Lacouture' Financial Times 26/6 'Sympathetic but objective and detailed' Morning Star 14/7 'Fenby tells his remarkable story quite admirably in a fast-moving narrative that is nevertheless detailed and always, I think, fair to both De Gaulle and to this enemies' The Scotsman 19/7 'This biography by former Observer editor paints a memorable picture of a complex, highly-strung man whose lofty public images belied his inner torments' Press Association - various 'Highly readable' Catholic Herald 23/7 'A fine journalist, he pulls together very capably the threads of wartime with an eye for telling detail and anecdote. De Gaulle has been written about many times before, but those with time in their lives for only one book about the general could happily make it this one' Lord Christopher Patten, The Spectator 31/7 'Excellent' Reader's Digest, August Issue 'Revealing...he writes movingly...gripping...It's certainly the best biography of de Gaulle to have been written in English' TLS, 3/7 'The book is pacy and readable...such a great tale deserves retelling and has not been better told in English before. One striking feature of Fenby's account is to show de Gaulle's human side, which is unfamiliar, because he kept his personal and public lives strictly separate' Guardian 7/8 'There have been many biographies of de Gaulle...but the great merit of Jonathan Fenby's book...is due not only to his scrupulous research but also that he lived in France as bureau chief for The Economist and Reuters' The Tablet 7/7 'Full, clear, French-sourced and excellent' Tribune 6/8 'How often do you re-arrange the furniture of your mind? The one made me ponder the present state, history and future of a great country' The Field September, 2010 'De Gaulle always maintained that a non-French biographer could never hope to fully understand him. This superb book has finally proved him wrong' Sunday Business Post 15/8 'The best English biography of de Gaulle' The Oldie, Autumn issue 2010
About the Author
Jonathan Fenby is a former editor of the OBSERVER and of the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST. He is the author of several books including the acclaimed ON THE BRINK: THE TROUBLE WITH FRANCE and GENERALISSIMO: CHIANG KAI-SHEK AND THE CHINA HE LOST.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By AJ
Format:Hardcover
Written by an acknowledged expert at the art of writing biography, the book combines effortless detialed awareness not only of de Gaulle and the milieu that nourished him, with a style of writing that is accessible without being condescending to the less well informed reader.
Mr Fenby also has the art of making the hero seem somewhat more human, likeable and indeed accessible than I would have thought possible for such a weighty tome. For anyone who, like me, has had a love affair with France over my adult years and still secretly admires their determination to create laws and never then keep them, this book will also offer some fascinating insights into the way that the myth and the reality that is both de Gaulle and the idea of serious resistance to Nazi occupation, and to the new spirit that emerged from the war, and gave rise to 'les trentes glorieuses' ... the thirty post war years that saw the transformation of France from a backwater of agricultural dependence into one of the major industrial powers of the EU... a process in which de Gaulle was central, whether in power or out of it. In all a great read and a wonderful study of a giant of the modern world.
Mr Fenby also has the art of making the hero seem somewhat more human, likeable and indeed accessible than I would have thought possible for such a weighty tome. For anyone who, like me, has had a love affair with France over my adult years and still secretly admires their determination to create laws and never then keep them, this book will also offer some fascinating insights into the way that the myth and the reality that is both de Gaulle and the idea of serious resistance to Nazi occupation, and to the new spirit that emerged from the war, and gave rise to 'les trentes glorieuses' ... the thirty post war years that saw the transformation of France from a backwater of agricultural dependence into one of the major industrial powers of the EU... a process in which de Gaulle was central, whether in power or out of it. In all a great read and a wonderful study of a giant of the modern world.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Gary Longden
Format:Hardcover
An outstanding biography of one of the great figures of 20th Century history. I hesitated before embarking on this substantial tome. Broadly aware of DeGaulle's place and role in the scheme of things, I struggled to imagine that a comprehensive biography would hold my interest, I was wrong.
That it did is down to the consummate writing skills of author Jonathan Fenby. An acknowledged authority on France in general. and DeGaulle in particular, Fenby's obvious enthusiasm for his subject oozes out of the text in an account authoritatively, but lightly told, account. Anecdote and vignettes, of which there are many always entertain, never distract and always compliment the narrative.
The Free French years and Algerian Crisis are covered triumphantly, but Fenby's skill is that he is as comfortable with his grasp of geo-political intrigue as he is with DeGaulle's love for his handicapped daughter. By common consent a difficult and infuriating man his unequal struggle with an exasperated Roosevelt is painfully recounted, as is his love hate relationship with Churchill.
The conflicts integral within a man who believed himself to be the saviour of his own vision of France, who nonetheless had to trim and negotiate and come to terms with a country marginalised by the outcome of the second world war are brilliantly exposed. The result is not only a definitive document of DeGaulle's life, but a fine example of how good biography should be written. Detail is always given for a purpose, and within context, not to impress the reader.
Not only is this essential reading for those interested in the man, it is also a vital and fresh insight into France's role in the Second World War. The Vichy regime is covered from inception to fall, the Free French from cradle to triumph. DeGaulles struggle to reassert French pride post war is painful in parts, embodied by Colonial decline and the Algerian Crisis. The only minor disappointment is that DeGaulles lack of involvement means that the Vietnam War does not get the time that I am sure Fenby would have liked to devote to it.
Buy , read and enjoy.
That it did is down to the consummate writing skills of author Jonathan Fenby. An acknowledged authority on France in general. and DeGaulle in particular, Fenby's obvious enthusiasm for his subject oozes out of the text in an account authoritatively, but lightly told, account. Anecdote and vignettes, of which there are many always entertain, never distract and always compliment the narrative.
The Free French years and Algerian Crisis are covered triumphantly, but Fenby's skill is that he is as comfortable with his grasp of geo-political intrigue as he is with DeGaulle's love for his handicapped daughter. By common consent a difficult and infuriating man his unequal struggle with an exasperated Roosevelt is painfully recounted, as is his love hate relationship with Churchill.
The conflicts integral within a man who believed himself to be the saviour of his own vision of France, who nonetheless had to trim and negotiate and come to terms with a country marginalised by the outcome of the second world war are brilliantly exposed. The result is not only a definitive document of DeGaulle's life, but a fine example of how good biography should be written. Detail is always given for a purpose, and within context, not to impress the reader.
Not only is this essential reading for those interested in the man, it is also a vital and fresh insight into France's role in the Second World War. The Vichy regime is covered from inception to fall, the Free French from cradle to triumph. DeGaulles struggle to reassert French pride post war is painful in parts, embodied by Colonial decline and the Algerian Crisis. The only minor disappointment is that DeGaulles lack of involvement means that the Vietnam War does not get the time that I am sure Fenby would have liked to devote to it.
Buy , read and enjoy.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By Withnail67
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
I've been looking forward to reading this biography for some time, and it really did not disappoint. I remember father reading the Jean Lacouture biography of De Gaulle back in the 1980s, the hefty two-volume publication, so I jumped at the chance of reading a life of De Gaulle in less than 700 pages. This really must be the standard English language life of the most important 20th century Frenchman. Jonathan Fenby has impeccable credentials as a commentator on French politics, history and culture. I really enjoyed his book On the Brink which exposed the crisis in French politics in the 1990s. But this book is really the crowning product of a career as a commentator on France. De Gaulle himself was contrary and exasperating figure to some British observers and most British readers will be most compelled by his relationship with Winston Churchill during the darkest days of the Second World War. This the biography opens dramatically with the key moment of De Gaulle's departure for London in June 1940.
At various key points in the biography then be goes down to a calendar of events over days sometimes even hours and this adds a dramatic power for sense of the sequence of events great leaders have to respond to. Especially fascinating is the family background of De Gaulle: the hyper conservative family from Lille, the Manchester of France, the distant Scottish and Irish ancestry, the strong Catholic and tacitly monarchist sentiments of his father all contributed to his unique make-up and potent sense of national destiny. There is a strong sense of De Gaulle being shaped by the events of 1914 to 1918, an experience he had in common with his contemporaries from Churchill to Hitler. While the departure to London 1940 is powerfully envisaged, equally stirring and frightening is the description of the Algeria crisis of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which took France to the brink of civil war.
The book is handsomely produced; I enjoyed the striking cover with the general's kepi acting as a symbol for his keenly felt sense of duty. The photographs are evocative, and as one previous reviewer indicated, especially moving is the photograph of De Gaulle with his daughter who suffered from Down's syndrome. De Gaulle is a life spanned the end of the 19th century to the 1970s and reading this very fine biography one is left with a powerful sense of a man who for all his failings and idiosyncrasies, embodied his nation's sense of selfhood during a key period in its history.
At various key points in the biography then be goes down to a calendar of events over days sometimes even hours and this adds a dramatic power for sense of the sequence of events great leaders have to respond to. Especially fascinating is the family background of De Gaulle: the hyper conservative family from Lille, the Manchester of France, the distant Scottish and Irish ancestry, the strong Catholic and tacitly monarchist sentiments of his father all contributed to his unique make-up and potent sense of national destiny. There is a strong sense of De Gaulle being shaped by the events of 1914 to 1918, an experience he had in common with his contemporaries from Churchill to Hitler. While the departure to London 1940 is powerfully envisaged, equally stirring and frightening is the description of the Algeria crisis of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which took France to the brink of civil war.
The book is handsomely produced; I enjoyed the striking cover with the general's kepi acting as a symbol for his keenly felt sense of duty. The photographs are evocative, and as one previous reviewer indicated, especially moving is the photograph of De Gaulle with his daughter who suffered from Down's syndrome. De Gaulle is a life spanned the end of the 19th century to the 1970s and reading this very fine biography one is left with a powerful sense of a man who for all his failings and idiosyncrasies, embodied his nation's sense of selfhood during a key period in its history.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Offers much, delivers little
I eagerly awaited my copy of Jonathan Fenby's The General: Charles de Gaulle and the France He Saved and was intent on finding out more about one of history's most controversial,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by K McCarthy
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great biography. Of a Great Man?
This wonderfully written biography begins with Colonel (recently promoted General) de Gaulle's finest hour: his escape to Britain at the Fall of France in 1940. Read more
Published 8 months ago by James-philip Harries
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Very Good Book About a Man Who Made a State and Defined a Nation
The General by Jonathan Fenby is a very good biography about Charles De Gaulle, the person who more than anyone else has shaped and defined France from 1945. Read more
Published 9 months ago by HBH
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vive la republique and vive la france
Being french, I must admit I never had the chance to read a biography of the general.
The book is a tour de force that manage to summarise the long and eventful life of... Read more
The book is a tour de force that manage to summarise the long and eventful life of... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Eric le rouge
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good General overview
To begin to understand the political structures of modern France you need to understand General de Gaulle and this book is a good start. Read more
Published 17 months ago by RCP
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb
A phenomenal tour de force which despite the astonishing detail, rattles along apace.
This book not only provides a tremendous insight into a unique figure of the twentieth... Read more
This book not only provides a tremendous insight into a unique figure of the twentieth... Read more
Published 17 months ago by RJB-GLASGOW
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very impressive
Coming from a partly French background, I have some indirect knowledge of the period and the difficulties faced by some members of my family; the problem with biographies of De... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Richard Sewell
5.0 out of 5 stars
This great work deserves all of the praise that it has attracted
This is one of the best biographies I have ever owned and read. Jonathan Fenby has a well-deserved reputation for excellence but his latest work is superbly-researched - of course,... Read more
Published on 18 May 2011 by Geoffrey Woollard
4.0 out of 5 stars
de Gaulle: the enigma
Charles De Gualle is one of the most contradictory leaders of a modern country. Almost self-appointed as the messiah of Frnace following the collapse of the Third Republic in 1940,... Read more
Published on 29 April 2011 by Lotta Continua
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vive de Gaulle et Vive Fenby!
This biography brings back to life one of the major figures of 20th century France and Europe.The style is elegant and readable- in places it almost reads like a thriller. Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2011 by Dalgety
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