In this new biography, Andrew Knapp concisely dissects each of the major controversies surrounding General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French during the Second World War and President of France from 1959 to 1969.

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).

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