Savior of his nation in war; bold man of letters; patriot; a statesman who achieved reality for his political vision by the overwhelming force of his will: the personality that emerges in Jean Lacouture's magnificent biography of Charles de Gaulle seems larger than life, a presence of mythic proportions. The story begins with de Gaulle's childhood in Lille and follows him through his heroic experiences in World War I and his swift rise to prominence in the French army, to that great moment of triumph, the liberation of Paris in August 1944. Perceptions of the private de Gaulle--the schoolboy,...

The second volume of Jean Lacouture's acclaimed biography of Charles de Gaulle opens with the creation of the Fourth Republic in the aftermath of World War II and with the election of de Gaulle--the voice of Free France, the savior of the nation in war--as president of France. But the internal contradictions of the new constitution soon forced de Gaulle to resign, leaving France to a succession of short-lived and generally ineffective coalition governments. In 1958, with the outbreak of the bitter colonial war in Algeria, destiny beckoned again. De Gaulle offered himself as a mediator and in...