De Gaulle Lessons in Leadership from the Defiant General

by Haskew, Michael E.

• ISBN13: 9780230110816
• ISBN10: 0230110819
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-09-27
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary

Charles de Gaulle once stated, "France has no friends, only interests," and it was this strength of mind and love of country that took the region from an occupied territory during World War II to a leader in the Allied cause. Convinced that his personal destiny and that of his beloved country were intertwined, de Gaulle's life's work was dedicated to advancing its preeminence among nations. Even while the country lay prostrate before the Nazis, he maintained the honor of the French people, choosing to resist rather than to collaborate. His presidency was no less visionary; under de Gaulle, France became a nuclear power, granted autonomy to more than a dozen of its former colonial holdings, and maintained an influential presence on the world stage. Here, Michael Haskew takes us on a tremendous journey through de Gaulle's pivotal years, his leadership of the resistance, and beyond to understand the man who remade both modern military tactics and global leadership.

Author Biography

Michael Haskew is the editor of WWII History Magazine and the former editor of World War II Magazine . He is the author of a number of books, including The Sniper at War and Order of Battle. Haskew is also the editor of The World War II Desk Reference with the Eisenhower Center for American Studies. He lives in Hixson, Tennessee.

Table of Contents

"A succinct biography." -- The Washington Times

 

"Michael Haskew has again shown his skills as a researcher and writer in this succinct biography of a controversial commander.  Haskew refuses to let either De Gaulle or the reader off the hook with his lucid examinations of a turbulent time and man.  This is the place to start for any understanding of the French leader."—John Wukovits, author of One Square Mile of Hell and Eisenhower

“Michael E. Haskew’s succinct new biography of Charles de Gaulle demonstrates persuasively how, from his time as a young soldier, the French leader prepared himself for greatness as if certain that one day he would be called on to ‘save’ France. Indeed, one of the many strengths of this riveting book is that it rescues de Gaulle from the historical thicket to highlight the man before the myth, a man of personality, patriotism and principle before he became a man of power.”--Alan Riding, author of And The Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris

"Charles DeGaulle is one of the forgotten giants of World War II.  His complex, contentious personality made him at once a towering hero to the French people and a haughty, irritating thorn in the side of the Allies––the self-proclaimed leader of the Free French forces and a French government-in-exile who refused to be ignored and who continually tried to interject himself into plans for the liberation of his native land.  Michael Haskew’s brilliant portrait of the man rescues him from the shadows of time to shed new light on the many facets of his forceful, sometimes frustratingly overbearing, personality––facets that have unfortunately been ignored for the past half century."--Flint Whitlock, Editor, WWII Quarterly and author of Rock of Anzio and The Beasts of Buchenwald

“Mike Haskew's concise but penetrating biography of Charles de Gaulle restores the often-exasperating Frenchman to his proper place as one of the towering figures of World War II, a man whose lonely grandeur and sense of destiny inspired his beloved country at the moment of her greatest peril.”--Roy Morris Jr., Editor, Military Heritage magazine