General Montgomery lead the 8th Army to victory at El Alamein in 1942, and as Chief of Land Forces in the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944 he received Germany's surrender in 1945. Concentrating on the momentous events of Operation Overlord from June 1944, The Lonely Leader follows Monty's leadership of the Allied offensive to Luneburg Heath the following May. Monty is a figure renowned for his military professionalism, but Alistair Horne, in association with Montgomery's only son, also looks at the human face of a man regarded as rather Cromwellian, considering his style of command in the context of the tactics and politics of the period, not least his controversial dealings with Eisenhower.

'Alistair Horne is one of the best writers of history in the English language' C. P. Snow