Acknowledgements

The research and much of the writing of this book were made possible by the award of a three-year Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship, for which I am deeply grateful. The bounty of the Leverhulme Trust to academics at every stage of their career is one of the saving graces of British academia. A sabbatical year from Queen Mary allowed me to complete the manuscript.

At the Archives Nationales in Paris, I am indebted to Nicole Even, who catalogued the de Gaulle archives for the period of his Presidency. I also benefited at the Archives Nationales from the help and friendship of Caroline Piketty. Over fifteen years ago, Philippe Oulmont welcomed me at the Fondation Charles de Gaulle, offering assistance and advice – as he has continued to do since his retirement from the Fondation. Claude Marmot, also of the Fondation, shared with me her unrivalled knowledge of the de Gaulle family history, and allowed me to consult the unpublished letters of de Gaulle's brother Jacques to his parents during the Great War.

Among friends and colleagues who have helped in the writing of this book, two deserve special thanks. At Queen Mary, James Ellison shared with me copies of many documents from the National Archives, and from American archives, which he had used for his own work. This act of characteristic generosity saved me weeks of work. He was also kind enough to read the chapters on Gaullist foreign policy, a subject on which he has written with great authority. In Paris, I must thank above all Maurice Vaïsse, whose selfless work editing the French diplomatic documents is a major resource to all historians of the period. In addition, his kindness and help to me have been invaluable.

Robert Gildea, who read the entire manuscript for Penguin, also offered many useful suggestions.

Among others in England, France, the United States and elsewhere who have answered queries or contributed in other ways to the writing of this book (even if they may not remember that they have done), I would like
to thank in particular: Grey Anderson, Claire Andrieu, Peter Catterall, Laurent Douzou, Yves de Gaulle, Charlotte Faucher, Martyn Frampton, Gabriel Gorodetsky, Sudhir Hazareesingh, Peter Hennessy, Patrick Higgins, the late Stanley Hoffmann, Colin Jones, Rod Kedward, Andy Knapp, Chantal Morelle, Michael Moriarty, Robert Paxton, Guillaume Piketty, Dominique Parcollet, Robert Service, Todd Shepard, Iain Stewart, Renée Poznanski, Edward Stourton, Robert Tombs, David Valence, Olivier Wieviorka.

My agent, Andrew Gordon, has been continuously supportive. He was kind enough to read an entire draft of the book and offered many perceptive comments. The team at Penguin has lived up to its reputation. Peter James was a ferociously eagle-eyed copyeditor who saved me from many solecisms, and Cecilia Mackay a brilliantly resourceful picture researcher. Richard Duguid, Rebecca Lee and Ben Sinyor saw the book into print with great professionalism. Stuart Proffitt lived up to his legend: no editor with whom I have worked has ever taken more care with a manuscript.

Finally, my deepest thanks as ever go to Douglas, who has put up with de Gaulle invading our life and spreading over every surface. It is not easy for a tidy interior designer to live with an untidy academic. I wish I could promise him that we are now finished with de Gaulle.

Julian Jackson

February 2018