Charles de Gaulle still stands head and shoulders above the crowd. It is tempting to regard him as a living monument. He is far more. This new study of a 'fascinating and maddening man' is the panorama of a career which has stpped from peak to peak- from the rallying of French Resistance in 1940 to the leadership of post-war France,from the years of contemplation at Colombey-les-deux-Eglises to his dramatic recall on the verge of a French civil war. Surprisingly and convincingly de Gaulle is presented here as 'the eternal rebel'. Ceratainly the pattern of rebellion-against inefficiency,against cowardice,against the fetters of alliance-runs visibly through the actions of this 'liberal monarch'.

But,as Alexander Werth demonstrates,if France is today the one-man show that many resent,this one man can rightly claim to have restored his country's pride.