L’homme qui dit non

The study of history is a subversive calling. All countries make up a story that suits their idea of themselves. Authoritarians stamp out independent historical scholarship; extreme nationalists simply vilify those who try to tell the tale of what really happened.

Charles de Gaulle stands at the heart of what France likes to think about itself; Winston Churchill plays a similar role on this side of the Channel. Even a Francophile like me concedes that there is a deal more fiction about the French story than the British. The distinguished historian Robert Gildea has helped to tear the covers of what he has called the ‘redeeming, unifying heroic story’ of France’s wartime years. But one part of the story remains largely intact — the providential mission of de Gaulle, ‘l’homme qui dit non’.

Those familiar with Jonathan Fenby’s earlier books, not least his very accessible History of Modern China, will not be surprised that he tells the story of the ‘Constable of France’ so well.