The Last Titans: Churchill and de Gaulle

‘Deeply researched yet highly readable, with fresh and often provocative insights’ DAVID REYNOLDS
‘A vivid and shrewd reckoning … setting its assessment in the perspective of today’s troubled world’ PETER CLARKE

A compelling dual biography of Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle that shines new light on two of the greatest figures of the twentieth century.

Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle were thrown together by war. They incarnated the resistance of Britain and France to the existential threat from Nazi Germany, and their ultimate victory over Hitler has ensured their achievements will never be forgotten. But, as The Last Titans: Churchill and de Gaulle shows, that is only a part of a complex story. Both men influenced their countries, and the world around them, long after the war was won.

There was a paradox in the parallel and intertwined lives of these extraordinary men. De Gaulle – tall, gauche and incorruptible – exhibited qualities often associated with the English. Churchill – short, charming, witty and a bon vivant – resembled the quintessential politician of the French Third Republic. Their working relationship was rarely smooth, but they appreciated each other’s stature: de Gaulle said Churchill was ‘the great artist of a great history’, while Churchill recognised de Gaulle as ‘l’homme du destin’.