This biography recounting the Argentinean president’s rise, fall, and remarkable return to power is “a formidable achievement” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Latin America has produced no more remarkable or enduring political figure than Juan Perón. Born to modest circumstances in 1895 and trained in the military, he rose to power during a period of political uncertainty in Argentina. A shrewd opportunist who understood the needs and aspirations of the country’s workers, Perón rode their votes to the presidency and then increased their share of the nation’s wealth. But he also destroyed the independence of their unions and suppressed dissent. Ousted in a coup in 1955, Perón wandered about Latin America and finally settled in Spain, where he masterminded an astonishing political comeback that climaxed in his reelection as president in 1973. Joseph A. Page’s engrossing biography is based upon interviews, never-before-inspected Argentine and US government documents, and exhaustive research. It spans Perón’s formative years; his arrest and dramatic rescue by the descamisados in 1945; his relationship with the now mythic Evita; the violence and mysterious murders that punctuated his career; his tragic legacy, personified by his third wife, Isabel, who assumed the presidency after his death under the influence of a Rasputin-like astrologer; and the continuing appeal of Perónism in Argentina. In addition, Page’s study of Argentine-American relations is particularly penetrating—especially in its description of the struggle between Perón and US ambassador Spruille Braden. “It would probably take a novel stamped with the surrealistic genius of a Gabriel García Márquez to render all the madness, perverse magic and tragedy of Juan Domingo Perón and his Argentina. But Joseph A. Page has come up with the next best option. . . . A clearly written, definitive study.” —The New York Times Book Review

Although Juan Peron changed the course of modern Argentine history, scholars have often interpreted him in terms of their own ideologies and interests, rather than seeing the effect of this man and his movement had on the Argentine people. The essays in this volume seek to uncover the man behind the myth, to define the true nature of Peronism. Several chapters view Perón's rise to power, his deposition and eighteen-year exile, and his dramatic return in 1973. Others examine: opposing forces in modern Argentina, including the church and its role in politics; the conflict between landed stancieros and urban industrialists, terrorist activities and their populist support base; Peronism and the labor movement; and Evita Perón's role in advancing the political rights of women.

Eva Perón remains Argentina's best-known and most iconic personality, surpassing even sporting superstars such as Diego Maradona or Lionel Messi, and far outlasting her own husband, President Juan Domingo Perón - himself a remarkable and charismatic political leader without whom she, as an uneducated woman in an elitist and male-dominated society, could not have existed as a political figure. In this book, Jill Hedges tells the story of a remarkable woman whose glamour, charisma, political influence and controversial nature continue to generate huge amounts interest 60 years after her death. From her poverty-stricken upbringing as an illegitimate child in rural Argentina, Perón made her way to the highest echelons of Argentinean society, via a brief acting career and her relationship with Juan. After their political breakthrough, her charitable work and magnetic personality earned her wide public acclaim and there was national mourning following her death from cancer at the age of just 33. Based on new sources and first-hand interviews, the book will seek to explore the personality and experiences of 'Evita' and the contemporary events that influenced her and were in turn influenced by her. As the first substantive biography of Eva Perón in English, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in modern Argentinean history and the cult of 'Evita'.

The author succeeds admirably in defining and describing the complex phenomenon known as Peronism, as well as the distinctive ethos from which it sprang. He also provides a concise history of Argentina, a biography of Juan Peron (and his comparably mythic wife Evita) and in a postscript reviews events in Argentina since Peron's death in 1974....Crassweller brings Peron into clear focus.

The story of one of the most fascinating women of all time—Maria Eva Duarte, who rose from poverty to become one of the richest, most powerful women in the world. Eva Perón was a star and a legend during her lifetime, one of the most alluring women of the twentieth century. Through the hit Broadway musical Evita by Andrew Lloyd Webber, her story became famous, and with the release of the film starring Madonna as Eva Perón, her life became a media obsession once again. Evita, as she preferred to style herself, was the beautiful and legendary woman who rose up from poverty to become the hypnotically powerful first lady of Argentina. To millions of poor people, she was a savior; to her enemies, she was a monstrous dictator. In this riveting biography, John Barnes explores the astonishing paradox of this champion of the poor who attacked the rich and, in the process, made herself the wealthiest woman in the world.

In nearly every account of modern Argentine history, the first Peronist regime (1946–55) emerges as the critical juncture. Appealing to growing masses of industrial workers, Juan Perón built a powerful populist movement that transformed economic and political structures, promulgated new conceptions and representations of the nation, and deeply polarized the Argentine populace. Yet until now, most scholarship on Peronism has been constrained by a narrow, top-down perspective. Inspired by the pioneering work of the historian Daniel James and new approaches to Latin American cultural history, scholars have recently begun to rewrite the history of mid-twentieth-century Argentina. The New Cultural History of Peronism brings together the best of this important new scholarship. Situating Peronism within the broad arc of twentieth-century Argentine cultural change, the contributors focus on the interplay of cultural traditions, official policies, commercial imperatives, and popular perceptions. They describe how the Perón regime’s rhetoric and representations helped to produce new ideas of national and collective identity. At the same time, they show how Argentines pursued their interests through their engagement with the Peronist project, and, in so doing, pushed the regime in new directions. While the volume’s emphasis is on the first Perón presidency, one contributor explores the origins of the regime and two others consider Peronism’s transformations in subsequent years. The essays address topics including mass culture and melodrama, folk music, pageants, social respectability, architecture, and the intense emotional investment inspired by Peronism. They examine the experiences of women, indigenous groups, middle-class anti-Peronists, internal migrants, academics, and workers. By illuminating the connections between the state and popular consciousness, The New Cultural History of Peronism exposes the contradictions and ambivalences that have characterized Argentine populism. Contributors: Anahi Ballent, Oscar Chamosa, María Damilakou, Eduardo Elena, Matthew B. Karush, Diana Lenton, Mirta Zaida Lobato, Natalia Milanesio, Mariano Ben Plotkin, César Seveso, Lizel Tornay

Peronism, the Argentine political movement created by Juan Perón in the 1940's, has revolved since its inception around a personalistic leader, a set of powerful trade unions, and a weakly institutionalized political party. This book examines why Peronism continued to be weakly institutionalized as a party after Perón was overthrown in 1955 and argues that this weakness has impeded the consolidation of Argentine democracy. Within an analysis of Peronism from 1943 to 1995, the author pays special attention to the 1962-66 and 1984-88 periods, when some Peronist politicians and union leaders tried, but failed, to strengthen the party structure. By identifying the forces that led to these efforts of party-building and by analyzing the counterforces that thwarted them, he shows how these failures have shaped Argentina's experience with democracy. Drawing on this interpretation of Peronism and its place in Argentine politics, the book develops a distributive conflict/political party explanation for Argentina's democratic instability and contrasts it to alternatives that stress economic dependency, populist economic policies, political culture, and military interventionism.

Within Argentina, Juan Domingo Perón continues to be the subject of exaggerated and diametrically opposed views. A dictator, a great leader, the hero of the working classes and Argentina's “first worker”; a weak and spineless man dependent on his strongerwilled wife; a Latin American visionary; a traitor, responsible for dragging Argentina into a modern, socially just 20th century society or, conversely, destroying for all time a prosperous nation and fomenting class war and unreasonable aspirations among his client base. Outside Argentina, Perón remains overshadowed by his second wife, Evita. The life of this fascinating and unusual man, whose charisma, political influence and controversial nature continue to generate interest, remains somewhat of a mystery to the rest of the world. Perón remains a key figure in Argentine politics, still able to occupy so much of the political spectrum as to constrain the development of viable alternatives. Jill Hedges explores the life and personality of Perón and asks why he remains a political icon despite the 'negatives' associated with his extreme personalism.

Concerned primarily with the formation of political culture, Plotkin (Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, Argentina) explores the mechanisms of political consent (both active and passive) used by the authoritarian regime of Juan Domingo Peron to maintain and extend its power. Peronist political imagery and the institutional framework that supported the creation of the "symbolic apparatus" are examined. Going beyond traditional explanations that have concentrated on Peron's support among the organized working class, Plotkin looks into his mobilization of marginal sectors of the population (non-unionized workers, women, and the poor). Translated from the 1993 Spanish- language work. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.