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A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle (ALLEN LANE) Hardcover – International Edition, July 24, 2018

by Julian Jackson (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 265 ratings
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A life of the greatest French statesman of modern times In six weeks in the early summer of 1940, France was over-run by German troops and quickly surrendered. The French government of Marshal Pétain sued for peace and signed an armistice. One little-known junior French general, refusing to accept defeat, made his way to England. On 18 June he spoke to his compatriots over the BBC, urging them to rally to him in London. 'Whatever happens, the flame of French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished.' At that moment, Charles de Gaulle entered into history. For the rest of the war, de Gaulle frequently bit the hand that fed him. He insisted on being treated as the true embodiment of France, and quarrelled violently with Churchill and Roosevelt. He was prickly, stubborn, aloof and self-contained. But through sheer force of personality and bloody-mindedness he managed to have France recognised as one of the victorious Allies, occupying its own zone in defeated Germany. For ten years after 1958 he was President of France's Fifth Republic, which he created and which endures to this day. His pursuit of 'a certain idea of France' challenged American hegemony, took France out of NATO and twice vetoed British entry into the European Community. His controversial decolonization of Algeria brought France to the brink of civil war and provoked several assassination attempts. Julian Jackson's magnificent biography reveals this the life of this titanic figure as never before. It draws on a vast range of published and unpublished memoirs and documents - including the recently opened de Gaulle archives - to show how de Gaulle achieved so much during the War when his resources were so astonishingly few, and how, as President, he put a medium-rank power at the centre of world affairs. No previous biography has depicted his paradoxes so vividly. Much of French politics since his death has been about his legacy, and he remains by far the greatest French leader since Napoleon.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    944 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Allen Lane
  4. Publication date
    July 24, 2018
  5. Dimensions
    6.3 x 2.36 x 9.45 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1846143519
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1846143519
  8. See all details
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About the Author

Julian Jackson is Professor of History at Queen Mary, University of London and one of the foremost British experts on twentieth-century France. His previous books include France: The Dark Years, 1940-1944, which was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times History Book Award, and his celebrated The Fall of France, which won the Wolfson History Prize in 2004. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques.

Julian Jackson is Professor of History at Queen Mary, University of London and one of the foremost British experts on twentieth-century France. His previous books include France: The Dark Years, 1940-1944, which was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times History Book Award, and his celebrated The Fall of France, which won the Wolfson History Prize in 2004. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allen Lane; First Edition (July 24, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 944 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1846143519
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1846143519
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.41 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.3 x 2.36 x 9.45 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 265 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
265 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

luna
5.0 out of 5 stars received with good condition
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2021
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received with good condition
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inkpot7
5.0 out of 5 stars Great service
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2018
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Delivered very quickly, exactly what I wanted.
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars The most readable biography of De Gaulle in English
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2018
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Jackson has written the first biography of DeGaulle in English that seriously is based on the most recent révélations of contemporary memoirs, diaries and late-life news reports. Here is where it excells other English biographies in that it was written after he died and has a whole-life assessment. It is historical, yes, but it is presented with a contemporaneous view. Jackson is a good writer and makes parts of a slog-through life story entertaining but realistic. I can't imagine how DeGaulle family members would feel about this presentation, but as an outsider I thought it was pretty good. Recommend.
8 people found this helpful
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D J
2.0 out of 5 stars Print is ridiculously tiny
Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2021
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Well-written, but paperback is MUCH too small....
3 people found this helpful
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Robert Thomas Corbin
1.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy the paperback
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2019
This book is identical to the book entitled "De Gaulle" by Julian Jackson. By any title, this is an excellent biography and Jackson is an excellent writer. I don't know why it was re-titled to "A Certain Idea of France, etc." but it was, which is confusing. Anyway, this title, "A Certain Idea of France, etc." came out in paperback in July 2019. The paperback is a shrunk down copy of "De Gaulle." The text is identical, line for line, to that book but the type is tiny, so tiny you need a magnifying glass to read it. So, the paperback version is worth a lousy review. Surprisingly, the paperback is published by Penguin, who I used to regard as a competent publisher. No longer.
17 people found this helpful
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5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!
Reviewed in Canada on November 10, 2019
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Just finished this one. I have read other de Gaulle bios, but this one is easily the best. It is impressively researched and a pleasure to read. Jackson manages the difficult feat of making the reader admire and respect a man who is far from easy to like! Highly recommended.
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Cosimo Pastia
5.0 out of 5 stars Colossale biografia, impreziosità dalla nazionalità britannica dell'autore
Reviewed in Italy on November 19, 2020
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Appassionato di storia, ho comprato questa colossale biografia, stimolato dalla nazionalità inglese dell'autore, sicuro che non avrebbe fatto sconti.

De Gaulle è un mito oggi in Francia. ha 3600 strade a suo nome. Tutti, ma proprio tutti, desiderano accaparrarsi un pezzo della sua eredità politica. Le ragioni sono chiare e semplici:
- E' stato l'unico dello stato maggiore francese ad opporsi all'armistizio di Petain nel Giugno 1940;
- Nel 1946, una volta liberato il paese (e assicurato un seggio permanente al consiglio di sicurezza ONU), avendo perso il referendum sulla riforma costituzionale (che lui avrebbe voluto presidenziale per evitare gli stessi difetti che avevano portato il precedente regime al collasso contro i nazisti), si dimette, al massimo del carisma personale (ma al minimo del supporto delle forze politiche)
- Quando il paese nel 1958 è in crisi per il trauma della decolonizzazione, nello specifico la frattura con l'Algeria, torna, riforma a modo suo la costituzione, regna per 10 anni sopravvivendo al joli mai del 1968, dimettendosi infine per un referendum perso, l'anno successivo ( quasi un rituale di suicidio politico );
- Fa installare un contatore per poter pagare le proprie spese all'Eliseo;
- Aveva un affettuoso rapporto con la figlia affetta da sindrome di down.

Rispetto ai politici odierni, un dinosauro, di quelli che si richiamano quando le cose vanno male (ormai spesso), ma che durante i periodi di vacche grasse pesano troppo e sono spesso mal tollerati. Odiato da molti a suo tempo, subì più 30 attentati, uno dei quali fa da sfondo ad un film piuttosto famoso.

Uomo consapevolmente e decisamente petulante, ossessivo, dotato di memoria d'acciaio, ha indispettito spesso gli americani corteggiando i russi, condotto una diplomazia spumeggiante ma in realtà priva di una vera capacità d'impatto, regnato come un monarca repubblicano in patria. Primo tra i leader occidentali ad aprire alla Cina comunista, alcune sue posizioni sono decisamente contemporanee (l'importanza dell'europa, della Russia, del medioriente), altre sono altrettanto decisamente superate (l'europa odierna non è come l'avrebbe voluta).

Vale la pena acquistarlo se si capisce bene l'inglese (sebbene sia scritto in modo molto chiaro) e si è realmente appassionati di storia francese. Premesso questo, il lavoro di Jackson è superbo per ricchezza dei contributi ed imparzialità, il fatto che l'autore sia inglese e non francese (da cui è spesso lecito aspettarsi una dose variabile di idolatria) rende probabilmente questa biografia quella definitiva.
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Eugenio Oneguin
5.0 out of 5 stars Una biografía de De Gaulle muy completa escrita por un británico
Reviewed in Spain on September 14, 2020
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El tema me interesaba mucho pero cuando recibí la edición me llevé algo de decepción. El libro está fantásticamente editado con muy buenas ilustraciones y mapas pero meter una obra de esta extensión en una formato de bolsillo obliga a reducir tanto el tamaño de la letra que a mí por lo menos se me hacía demasiado cuesta arriba leer casi 1000 páginas con esa tipografía. Recomiendo o bien la edición en tapa dura que supongo que tendrá un tamaño más accesible o la edición en kindle, aunque a mí los ensayos no le acaban de enganchar en formato e-book.
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Client d'Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Une fantastique biographie
Reviewed in France on August 6, 2020
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Quel plaisir de lire une biographie d'une telle qualité.
Cet historien anglais a un recul que les biographes français de de Gaulle ont du mal à avoir, c'est ce qui fait l'un des intérêts du livre. Pour un Français, la lire en anglais présente l'inconvénient que toutes les citations en français sont traduites dans la langue de Shakespeare, ce qui conduit l'auteur a des approximations bien compréhensibles. Il les corrige en citant parfois la version originale. Pas grave, ce sera l'occasion de relire ce superbe ouvrage en traduction française.
Minuscule erreur factuelle : le petit groupe de travail qui a conçu le projet de constitution de la Ve République en 1958 ne travaillait pas au Château de Saint-Cloud, contrairement à ce qu'écrit l'auteur. Comme le savent tous les habitants de l'Ouest parisien, le château de Saint-Cloud n'existe plus depuis longtemps, ayant été détruit par un incendie en 1870. C'est bien au château de la Celle, à la Celle-Saint-Cloud (Yvelines), que Michel Debré et ses collègues travaillaient.
Ah ces châteaux français, il y en a tellement qu'on les mélange...
7 people found this helpful
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F. M. Stockdale
5.0 out of 5 stars A very great man and a fine biography
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 4, 2018
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What is a truly great man? The ambitions of Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin and Mao were built of the sacrifice of millions of people. And with pitifully little to show in the aftermath.
The ambition of Charles de Gaulle was just to rescue his homeland France from its shattering moral and military collapse in 1940 to its present restored eminence by the time of his voluntary retirement in 1969.
The steady decline of France from Napoleonic glory to the decadent surrender of Petain and Vichy stimulated de Gaulle, a minor General, to take refuge in London and, with just a few supporters, to emerge in 1944 as the undisputed personification of France. How did he do it?
This portrait of his bloody - minded, intransigent and at times self-defeating promotion of France as a great nation is fascinating and very well written. He towered like the vast granite dolmen that he physically resembled over his contemporaries and, by the end, succeeded in establishing the 5th Republic (which endures), freeing Algeria and rebutting communism. When he died, even his most committed adversaries mourned a titanic hero of France. Fascinating.
3 people found this helpful
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