In this definitive history, William R. Keylor traces the tumultuous relationship between Charles de Gaulle and a host of other key twentieth-century figures: his former mentor Marshal Philippe Pétain, who headed the collaborationist government in the southern French city of Vichy as the German army occupied the northern two-thirds of the country; Sir Winston Churchill, the British prime minister whose government supported and financed de Gaulle and the Free French, but who clashed with the French leader on a number of hot-button issues; and, most critically, the six American presidents from FDR to Nixon. Keylor uses the metaphor "thorn in the side" to emphasize the fact that challenges from the intrepid French leader were often an annoyance to the Americans, who all had many more important issues to deal with: Roosevelt and Truman waged the Second World War; Eisenhower confronted the Cold War; and Kennedy and then Johnson were preoccupied with the Vietnam War. Richard Nixon proved to be the one exception-he had an excellent relationship, but the two men overlapped for only four months before de Gaulle's retirement. Thoroughly researched and elegantly written, this book will appeal to all readers interested in contemporary French and US history. | Charles De Gaulle by William R. Keylor, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters