De Gaulle, vol. 2: The Solitude of the Fighter (1940–1946)

"The hero of the story is the brother of the hero of the novel." André Malraux. De Gaulle is alone. He is forty-nine years old. On 18 June 1940, he launches an appeal for resistance. But who hears it? France is defeated, occupied. She listens to the old chief: Pétain. For De Gaulle, exiled in London, unknown, condemned to death by Vichy, it is "the solitude of the fighter". How, in four years, did this proscribed general succeed in becoming the symbol of the Resistance and the most illustrious of Frenchmen? It is this fabulous adventure that Max Gallo recounts here, following De Gaulle step by step. And one discovers an unknown story: that of a man who doubts, who says: "One must have a very stout heart and France before one's eyes not to throw everything overboard." That of a man shaken by "sobs of pride" as he follows the fighting at Bir Hakeim. And above all, that of an unyielding man who every day must stand up to Churchill and Roosevelt, who wish to humiliate him, sideline him, submit him. At the outset, he has only the weapons of willpower and faith in himself to resist them. Then rise the heroes who join him: obscure or illustrious members of the Resistance, such as General Leclerc and Jean Moulin. And on 26 August 1944, Paris welcomes the "liberator of the territory": De Gaulle. What now? To govern? But the political parties have already begun their petty manoeuvring. De Gaulle resigns on 20 January 1946: "One cannot be both the man of great storms and of base scheming." He takes the dream with him. In the manner that earned him the unprecedented success of Napoléon (nearly 800,000 copies sold, translated into many countries, from Italy to Korea), Max Gallo, historian and novelist, never loses sight of his subject.

It is literally through De Gaulle's eyes that we see and live History. De Gaulle by Max Gallo comprises 4 volumes:

- L'Appel du destin: 1890 / 1940

- La Solitude du combattant: 1940 / 1946

- Le Premier des Français: 1946 / 1962

- La Statue du commandeur: 1962 / 1970