{"product_id":"the-last-of-the-giants","title":"The Last of the Giants","description":"xv, 1063 pp. Ostensibly a book about the two waxing and waning giants of the Cold War, De Gaulle and Churchill, \"The Last of the Giants\" is as much about Sulzberger and his travels as anything else. \"Giants\" had its genesis in Sulzberger's earlier  Test De Gaulle and Algeria  when he realized that De Gaulle's handling of the Algerian Crisis proved his mettle and in likelihood he wanted to flesh that out more fully. The problem is that \"Giants\" isn't a typical biography but rather what reads like dispatches and journal entries from 1954 to 1963 and reads like the first draft of history that it is. Sulzberger rubs shoulders with all manner of fascinating people, some well known and others obscure. Lumping Churchill in here is almost gratuitous as by 1954 he was in profound physical decline and would stand down as Prime Minister the following year. Quite frankly he scarcely pops up often enough to warrant inclusion as you read far more about Eisenhower, Khrushchev, Pompidou, Nasser, McMillian, Adenauer, and others more frequently. In a sense it's almost an autobiography, yet at the same time the rebirth of Europe following World War II and the emergence of a desire for a European Union. The unfolding of the Cold War is captured in fairly brilliant detail and this is a must for scholars of that era although there is a lot of wading needed to separate the wheat from the chaff. As with  Test De Gaulle and Algeria  Sulzberger garners some truly wonderful insight into the character and thinking of De Gaulle. His comments on NATO, the Arab peoples, and the French are by turns prescient and still relevant today. \"Giants\" quite brilliantly captures the complicated nature of De Gaulle and his thinking in quick snapshots. This is a must for anyone trying to get a better sense or understanding of De Gaulle. A French scholar once said to me that \"To understand De Gaulle is to understand France\". No truer words need be spoken.","brand":"The Macmillan Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40107830706246,"sku":"2325970","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1232\/9510\/products\/2325970.jpg?v=1654781092","url":"https:\/\/ym-demo.myshopify.com\/products\/the-last-of-the-giants","provider":"Yesterday's Muse","version":"1.0","type":"link"}