On 14 January 1963, General de Gaulle brutally vetoed Britain's first bid to join the Common Market. It was a blow that delayed Britain's entry for a decade and hastened the end of Harold Macmillan's political career. Peter Mangold writes in arresting detail about the fascinating personal duel that shaped high politics and Anglo-French diplomacy. He portrays two of the most complex and skilful leaders of the post-war era, old friends from their association in Algiers during World War II: de Gaulle the dour, lofty moralist obsessed with high notions of France; and Macmillan, the canny, ambitious fixer, always the pragmatist seeking to get things done. The Almost Impossible Ally is the dramatic story of a friendship turned sour, which captures another chapter in the turbulent relations between Britain and France. 'Reads with the pace and excitement of the best sort of history... [Mangold] balances the lives of two extraordinary men and the destinies of their two countries' - David Cannadine, Director of the Institute for Historical Research at the University of London ' Witty and well written, and comical as well as dramatic, this book is essential reading for anyone wanting to learn of Macmillan's dilemmas and de Gaulle's reasons for refusing to admit Britain to the European community' - Wm. Roger Louis, Kerr Professor at the University of Texas at Austin.