Evita - First Lady: A Biography of Eva Peron [Paperback]

John Barnes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1979

Eva Peron 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 Peron, her life became a media obsession once again. Whore and feminist, tyrant and saint, Evita 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.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Random House~trade (July 1979)
• ISBN-10: 0394170873
• ISBN-13: 978-0394170879
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,420,796 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Subdued variation of the "Black Myth of Evita", July 29, 2002

By 

Andrew Olivo Parodi (Oregon, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Evita, First Lady: A Biography of Evita Peron (Paperback)

Though not quite as vicious as THE WOMAN WITH THE WHIP (the basis for the musical EVITA), and even sympathetic in parts, this book is still full of errors. The most notable error being the most often repeated by other biographers as well: the assertion that Evita organized a rally to free Juan Peron from prison and thereby usher him into the presidency of Argentina (this historical inaccuracy made its way into the Broadway musical, and eventually into the movie version). The rally that freed Peron from prison was organized by the unions, to which Evita, still an actress at the time, had no affiliation.

But I can understand why that myth is recounted here as fact: because it fits well into the author's over-all thesis that Evita was a power hungry woman who calculated her rise to the top. Whether she was power hungry or not, she did accumulate great power. But she did not, and could not have, really shaped any of the events that brought her to power (what brought Evita to power was her husband Juan Peron, and what brought Juan Peron to power was the situation caused by the embargos placed on Argentina by the United States; for further elaboration on this, I recommend Lawrence W. Levine's book INSIDE ARGENTINA FROM PERON TO MENEM). This author would have done better to have just described what 'was,' rather than trying to describe 'why' it was.

The difficulty in understanding Evita is that her life is so shrouded in myth. It's my opinion that a serious biographer would therefore steer clear of all "interpretations" of Evita (i.e., interpretations of her character and motivations), and focus on simply "hammering out" the basic details of her life (since they are in such great dispute, even 50 years after her death). Instead, the author of this book tried to portray her as something of a "romance novel heroine." The tone of the book is a little too stylized. The author even occasionally describes what Evita said to Peron behind closed doors when no one else was present, which is where it particularly takes on the tone of a romance novel because the dialogue is melodramatic. In addition, Peron and Evita never gave personal interviews regarding the private details of their relationship (this was the 1950s where people, especially politicians, were much less likely to talk about these things).

The best thing about this book is probably the collection of pictures, 16 pages in all (all black and white). And I don't mean that as an insult at all. This book actually contains some great reproductions.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but Incredibly Flawed., February 21, 2003

By 

E. Valero "Eterno" (Woodbridge, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evita, First Lady: A Biography of Evita Peron (Paperback)

What can I say about Eva Peron that hasn't already been said? Her unparalleled power & beauty have become legendary and so has her bad reputation. Was she really as ruthless as her notoriety leads us to believe? It depends on who you ask and what you read.

John Barnes biography has been translated to several languages and it has been re-issued several times but this is not an accurate biography of the enigmatic and now mythic Eva Peron. There are too many inaccuracies that just fuel the myths and Barnes' account reads more like a tabloid. It's a watered-down, less hateful version of Mary Main's "The Woman with the Whip". Both biographies are very similar in tone. The main difference between the two is that John Barnes does give Eva Peron credit for some of her accomplishments especially with her foundation. Main, on the other hand does not and she cites greed, hatred and megalomania as the reasons behind all of Eva's achievements. Main also accuses Evita of being personally responsible for the atrocities committed by the state police during the first Peronist period knowing full well that there isn't the slightest shred of evidence. She even states so in her book ("There is no proof"). John Barnes doesn't and for this I give him credit.

One of my complaints with the newer versions of John Barnes' biography is that the epilogue is omitted. Those who are interested in purchasing this book are better off getting their hands on a good used copy of the original instead. The epilogue is interesting because despite the author's negative portrayal of Eva Peron, it clearly demonstrates that when all is said and done, the administrations that followed Peron and Evita were far worse. Even by the opposition's point of view. Barnes does a side by side comparison between Videla's chaotic Argentina of the 70's to Peron's less destructive and more popular form of government. He states that Peron may have had some of his enemies imprisoned but "they all came out alive". That is not the case with later Argentine administrations where thousands were systematically locked up, tortured and killed. Even children and the elderly were not safe.

Having read countless biographies of Eva Peron in both Spanish and English, both pro and anti-Peronist, I can frankly state I know alot about Eva Peron including all of the myths surrounding her persona. In my opinion, the best biography of Eva Peron in the English language is Nicholas Fraser & Maryssa Navarro's informative and well researched book. Like Barnes book, it has been re-issued several times under several titles, the most current being "Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron". JM Taylor's "Eva Peron: The Myths of a Woman" is also helpful and well documented and Robert Crassweller's "Peron and the Enigmas of Argentina" is well researched, well-written and is one of the best Peron biographies available anywhere. There is a huge difference between the woman portrayed in the books I mentioned above and the heinous character depicted here. The Eva Peron that John Barnes presents to us was an extraordinary woman but incredibly ruthless, vain and unpleasant. It's the exact same Eva Peron portrayed in the erroneous musical that bears her name. Like many other anti-Evita biographers before and after, Barnes is clearly fascinated by Eva Duarte despite the harsh character flaws he sees in her. Mary Main, Tim Rice, George Bruce, WA Harbinson, all have written scandalous and in some instances down-right malicious books about the woman and display her as an ambitious monster who squashed anyone that got in her way but for some reason, they did not hate her, at least not to the extent you'd expect. Why is that? Was it because she was a woman? Was it because she was so young and beautiful? The director of the stage play, Harold Prince stated that in his opinion Eva Peron was a "villian" corrupted by power but something about her drew him to her and he cited her gender as one of the reasons. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber stated that Evita was "extremely attractive" and possessed qualities that were admirable despite being the most "unsympathetic" character he has ever written music for. For those like Prince and Webber, who consider Eva to be an amoral, murderous dictator it's hard to believe that they would feel any kind of sympathy towards her but like Barnes, they do. Eva's youth, gender, glamour and charisma have a lot to do with it but in Eva Peron's case it's something more. There is something about her that intrigues even those who despise her and that is rare. One should also keep in mind that if Evita has become "immortal", her detractors are as much to blame for this as her admirer's. John Barnes' book tries hard to condemn her but in the end, it loves her to pieces.

"Evita First Lady: A Biography of Eva Peron" is an entertaining read but it's too flawed, too historically inaccurate to be considered a good biography. Maryssa Navarro, Nicholas Fraser, JM Taylor, A Dujovne Ortiz, Robert Crassweller and a countless others have done better. Give their books a try before committing your time to this unless you are more interested in reading a more sensationalized and imprecise narrative of Eva Duarte de Peron's life story.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Truth stranger than fiction", June 4, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Evita, First Lady: A Biography of Evita Peron (Paperback)

I am very familiar with Latin American writers and read them in the Spanish. I read this book in Spanish even though it originally was in English! John Barnes is a very experienced journalist who was stationed in Bueonos Aires for various major publications. He has worked all over the world in places like Argentina, Chile. No. Ireland and covered the Iran Iraq was for Newsweek. With this background and talent he has crafted a facinating book about Eva Peron. It's true that there is a lot of politics but when you are first lady it goes with the territory. It's how she and Col. Peron transformed and revoluncionized Argentina just before the end of WW 11 that is so interesting. Evita left a little pueblo at 15 with no formal education, worked her way up to being a second rate actriz in their film industry. She fell in love with Col Peron many years her senior and took control of the country. It turnes out she was the brains and fierce driving spirit in the process who died at age 32. The major labor union petioned the Pope to have her cannonized a saint! I found this book by the pro John Barnes a real treat.