De Gaulle: a biography

General de Gaulle imposed his vision upon a country, even perhaps upon a continent. Again and again, standing virtually alone, he deflected the course of history. One may have admired his grandeur, his courage, his tenacity; one may have detested has arrogance, his conceit, his wilful blindness: one could never ignore him. He was a legend for almost thirty years, and around him accumulated a literature of staggering size. But almost all the books reflect some private point of view and illuminate only a small corner of their great subject. This major biography by Aidan Crawley covers his whole career up to the end of 1968. General de Gaulle died in November, 1970.