Eva Peron: A Biography (Paperback)

~ (Author), Shawn Fields (Translator) "The espadrilles were black and the pinafore white, but the children's uniform would turn completely gray in one week's time..." (more)
Key Phrases: Buenos Aires, Father Benitez, Juan Duarte (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A biography of Evita, the saintly madonna of Argentina which leans more toward entertainment than heavy history. Ortiz recounts Eva Peron's humble birth, her extraordinary rise to power in Argentina at the side of her husband General Juan Peron, and her short and legendary reign as a virtual queen, dispensing comfort to the masses before she died from cancer at 33. Evita was christened Eva Maria Duarte by her mother, whose liberal sex life was a necessary response to poverty. The beautiful Eva found the same necessity when she went to find work as an actress in Buenos Aires. Eva's power over men eventually caught General Peron, and together their hatred of the ruling oligarchy reshaped the country. It is a political story with enough spice to make a dozen bodice-ripping novels. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Argentineans have cried over or vilified the peroxided patron saint of Peronism since her death at 33 in 1952. Mistress, then wife of the ambitious colonel who fashioned a populist fascism supported by the trade unions, Eva Peron exploited her ascendancy to become a philanthropic force in his regime, shows the author. Cleverly extracting from Peter to pay Paul, she set up an Eva Peron Foundation to succor the poor and sucker businessmen dependent on the president's tolerance. On the side, the pair enriched themselves, while "Evita" became a world figure. A minor, moneyless radio actress from the provinces at the beginning, at her end she was mummified, like Lenin, for veneration in a glass-topped casket that would undergo more vicissitudes after Peron's ouster than she'd experienced in life. It is the stuff of a compelling story?and a hit musical soon to be a film (starring Madonna), which may explain why this virtually unsourced apologia is being published. More than 30 biographies of Evita have appeared in Spanish alone, perhaps a dozen in English. This one is not a distinguished addition to that company. French journalist Ortiz's meandering, sentimental prose may be less disconcerting in the original Spanish than in Fields's translation, but the book often strains logic as well as language. Photos not seen by PW. History Book Club and QPB selections; audio rights to Books on Tape.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (July 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312168276
• ISBN-13: 978-0312168278
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #485,901 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST BIOGRAPHY OF EVA PERON AVAILABLE, March 8, 2000

By A Customer

This book offers a completely unbiased look at one of the most controversial first ladies of the twentieth century. Eva Peron was both adored and despised and many aspects of her life are open to wide speculation. The author never tries to assume one opinion, as most biographers do, but carefully presents each possible version of the events in question. Eva is presented as neither saint or sinner, just a very complex and intense person, and it is completely up to the reader as to how to judge her. This is probably the most well researched and honest biography of Eva Peron available.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A biography which lapses into romantic best-seller style, September 11, 2003

By	Govindan Nair (Vienna, VA United States) - See all my reviews

I have yet to find an entirely satisfactory biography of Argentina's controversial first lady once widely revered as a saintly Madonna. This book is written chronologically, from the subject's birth in an unremarkable Argentinean provincial town, to her death and the return of her body to Argentina in 1974. It strives to be balanced and to summarize the evidence around various controversial points regarding the life of Eva Peron.

Unfortunately, this book, written by a Paris-based Argentinean-born journalist, while thoroughly entertaining, can hardly qualify as a serious historical or political analysis of Eva Peron and her times. Having only read the English version, it is hard to judge whether the translation is awkward is some places, or whether the original prose also lapses into a saccharine style of romantic best sellers. Even as a journalistic book on this subject, you might find a better, more articulate, and shorter account (which does draw from this book by Ortiz) in Looking for History: Dispatches from Latin America, by Alma Guillermoprieto (which I have also reviewed of this website).

There are some interesting photos in this book, but if it is photos of Evita and her times which interest you, I would recommend Evita: An Intimate Portrait of Eva Peron, by Tomas De Elia, which I have also reviewed on this site.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As fascinating and complex as Eva Peron, May 24, 2000

By	John B. Kenrick (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Eva Peron was one of the most fascinating figures of the 20th Century. She inspired both fanatical devotion and vehement opposition, but rarely anything in between, especially among Argentinians. Consequently, there are wildly different versions of her story -- some viewing her as "Santa Evita," others as a personification of sin and corruption. Till now, most biographies of Evita have been biased toward one party line or the other, and some scraped up the most sensational versions of every incident. Alicia Ortiz goes out of her way to compare opposing stories and offer reasonable conclusions as to where the truth really lies. Refusing to gloss over Eva's weaknesses or overlook her amazing strengths, Ortiz gives a very human and enlightening portrait of a remarkable woman. Considering that the author's father was a political prisoner of the Peron regime, her fairness is all the more impressive. Ms. Ortiz also examines the unique mindset of that Argentinian culture, explaining the sexual and political chemistry that were key factors in Eva's rise and fall. The translator retains many idiomatic aspects of Spanish prose, as well as the tango lyrics that reflect key aspects of the Argentinian spirit (but normally defy translation into English). Not always an easy read, but absorbing and satisfying -- easily the most thorough and well-balanced book on Eva Peron to date.