A masterpiece

Thrilling account of the life and time of De Gaulle. Brilliantly written and read and difficult to put down.

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Excellent, but weird pronunciation of some French names

Great voice acting, on the whole, but I couldn't let the narrator's pronunciation of Montesquieu as "Monteskwee" slide.

Five stars in spirit, nonetheless; I like this narrator a lot, and I don't want to be impolite. Still, though.

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One of the best biographies I’ve read

I have a special relationship to France where I spent part of my life learning French and later teaching English and I try to keep up with French history, culture and ideas and visit the country several times each year. I don’t know if others who do not feel as passionately as I do will be interested in such a long and in depth audiobook but I’ve been listening for over a month and could not abandon this book - it is so well done. I have some small objections to the narrator who reads too fast and whose French is not as well pronounced as he might think. I slowed the recording down to .9x to deal with the first and noticed some small improvement as the book advanced for the second (or maybe I just got used to it). As for the text itself it couldn’t be more comprehensive or better. The author clearly knows his subject and is well read and knowledgeable about all aspects of French life and culture and politics. I found his analysis both informative and insightful. The reader, although he mispronounces things right and left, is at least comprehensible and the rhythms of his narration made things relatively easy to follow once I got used to his pace and pronunciation and kept my interest through what is a very long and detailed history. At the end of the book I felt I had a much better grasp of De Gaulle and his role in 20th century French history than even after several French history courses in college and graduate school and many years in France. I was also impressed with the scholarship of the book and I cannot recommend it highly enough for those with a passion for France or a desire to understand more about France before going there to live or visit. It was really the highlight of my reading and listening so far this year.

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This book will help you understand modern France

Terrific book. The narrative is we structured and the content is well researched. The narrator has a great voice although he occasionally has trouble with certain French pronunciations. Although it’s a long book, it helps illuminate much of modern France and it’s institutions through the person of General De Gaulle. If you enjoy history or biography, this is a book for you!

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Excellent and thorough tour de Force of de Gaulle

It is by far one of the best biographies of de Gaulle. A very interesting walk through his life and career. I knew a lot about de Gaulle during the war but found it interesting to know more of him “ruling” France in the 60s.

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Engaging Narrative Biography of a man embodying “Gradure”

The narrator was excellent with perfect french pronunciation. De Gaulle’s life and bombastic presence on the world stage makes for a fascinating story. Well researched and neutral.

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Outstanding biography, awful pronunciation

Excellent dissection of De Gaulle's personality and deep understanding of the wider context although in my opinion the book would have benefited from being a bit shorter.
Julian Jackson shows De Gaulle's theatrical and almost grotesque pride and prickliness was real but he made a srewd use of brinkmanship and was ready to back down when necessary. Still, his ingratitude to the Allies and later his meanness to the US and Britain is shocking. His extreme awkwardness in his early career gave way to a more self-assured stance and there is an element of mischievous fun in his brutality which somehow makes it less odious. His oratory and litterary style, while often vague and opaque, was clearly outstanding.
Unfortunately the reader mispronounces half the French names he comes across, sometimes beyond recognition. This became so annoying that I switched to the excellent French version of the book, also available on Audible.

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Couldn't get into it

The subject matter should be compelling and riveting, but I just couldn't get into it. The narration was great. But there are just some audiobooks you lose concentration on and this was one of them. I suspect it was because most of the story (I got about halfway) was about back-room politics and shenanigans, and not the real center of power during WWII and the inter-war years.

I'm sure people will love this, I just couldn't stick with it.

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Excellent

An excellent review of a complex figure. Well worth a listen. I recommend the book highly.

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Insightful, beautiful spoken, well documented

As another reviewer mentioned, this 35 hour audio is richly detailed, insightfully written, and so engaging that it's hard to press stop! C’est parfaitement écrit et très difficile d’arrêter d’écouter!

Yes, the narrator John Banks delivers a few odd French vowels and also a few odd English syllable stresses, but these are idiosyncrasies of the voice-actor and no cause for righteous indignation. Author Julian Jackson weaves a brilliantly nuanced portrait of CdG as a towering, determined, and often intimidating man.

De Gaulle believed that He * was * France. The scion of conservative Catholic academics, he held an unswerving belief in his own historical destiny. The text is interwoven with quotations from many contemporary sources, including deGaulle's memoires, letters, and speeches; diaries of his peers; and scholarly assessments from professional historians.

CdG's quirks, habits, style of movement, family life, literacy -- all suggest his inner world, feelings, and convictions. WW-2 figures play complex psychological roles. Through the eyes of those in his orbit, we meet Churchill [who despised deG] Roosevelt [who dismissed deG] Stalin [who toyed with deG] and Eisenhower [who remained friendly] along with the hard-working diplomats who had to deal with the moody, vengeful savior [Harriman, Eden].

His autocratic leadership and bitter animosities emerge again during the violent Algerian independence and the creation of the Fifth Republic. The author's stance is profoundly insightful while remaining coherently objective. It was so good that I listened twice! Well recommended!

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