This year’s winner was Julian Jackson for A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle (Allen Lane).
Commenting on this year’s winner, the Chair of Judges, Roy Foster said:
“A Certain Idea of France draws an unforgettable portrait of a divisive, awkward, self-contradictory but immensely impressive figure, and does so with empathy, deep scholarship and shafts of enlivening Gallic wit.
Though a long book, based on enormous archival research, it is compulsively readable throughout. Julian Jackson profoundly and quizzically examines the concepts of patriotism, nationalism and colonialism, through world war and uneasy peace, while unswervingly focussing on a single extraordinary life. A Certain Idea of France conclusively demonstrates the value of historical biography at its best, achieving exactly what the Elizabeth Longford Prize exists to recognise.”