It is normal in the English-speaking world to describe General Charles de Gaulle in negative terms. Arrogant, vain, ungrateful and dictatorial are some of the epithets used to describe the obscure French Army officer who in 1940 refused to accept defeat and, after helping the Allies crush Germany, went on to become president of France and founder of the Fifth Republic.
Ray Argyle has written Canadian historical novels and biographies, including one on Joey Smallwood. Argyle is also a francophile fascinated by the most celebrated Frenchman of the 20th century. He knows de Gaulle was not easy to get along with. But, he writes in The Paris Game: Charles de Gaulle, the Liberation of Paris and the Gamble that Won France, excessive focus on de Gaulle’s personality has obscured our view of the person. We remember his vanity and arrogance and forget “his significance as a transformative figure of the twentieth century.”
One of Argyle’s themes is the...
Daniel Stoffman, author or co-author of eleven books, studied international relations at the London School of Economics and has lived in France.
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