Charles de Gaulle

Andrew Knapp is Emeritus Professor of French Politics and Contemporary History at the University of Reading. He is author of Gaullism since de Gaulle (1994) and Parties and the Party System in France (2004), joint author of The Government and Politics of France (2006) and Forgotten Blitzes: France and Italy under Allied Air Attack (2012), and editor of The Uncertain Foundation: France at the Liberation, 1944–47 (2007).

'Andrew Knapp’s De Gaulle is written with the style and insight that we have come to expect of one the UK’s foremost commentators on French history and politics of our times. At once scholarly and accessible, it sheds light on one of the most important figures of the twentieth century and explains why his legacy is still important today, in a way that will appeal to students and general readers alike'.Paul Smith, University of Nottingham, UK'This is unquestionably the best shorter biography of Charles de Gaulle, both for general readers of French history and students in university-level courses. Carefully organized and drawing on the latest scholarship, it devotes attention to often-neglected topics and manages to capture the sometimes elusive character of the nation's greatest twentieth-century leader'.David Longfellow, Baylor University, USA

• 1 De Gaulle before Gaullism, 1890–1940 2 Allies and rivals: De Gaulle, the Free French, and their partners 3 Free France: foundations, 1940-1942 4 Towards a provisional government, 1942–1944 5 Liberation and recognition, June–October 1944 6 The Liberation Government, October 1944-January 1946 7 A Study in failure, 1946–1958 8 The return, 1958 9 Setting an example? De Gaulle, decolonisation, and the Third World 10 De Gaulle’s Constitution and the politics of presidential primacy 11 Superpowers and bombs 12 De Gaulle’s Europe 13 May 1968: economy, society, and the limits of presidential power 14 Departure, death, afterlives, 1968–2020