Juan and Eva Peron formed a charismatic partnership, arousing passionate emotions in Argentina during the 1940s and '50s. Juan Peron's rise to power began in 1943 when he helped organise the successful coup of pro-Axis army officers. Eva, a former actress and subject of scandal, became increasingly influential, securing the vote for women.

By the time of her death in 1952 at the age of 33, the charismatic Argentine first lady Eva Peron--Evita to millions of loyal followers--had become a saint-like figure and spiritual leader to her people and the world. This lavish photographic chronicle reveals the private and public life of Peron, from her impoverished childhood to her glorious end. 170 photos.

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

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'.

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

In the colorful, tumultuous setting of postwar Argentina, Eva Peron wielded a power--spiritual and practical--that has few parallels outside of hereditary monarchy. In this "fascinating, frightening, straightforward" (Cleveland Plain Dealer) biography, Fraser and Navarro have produced "a work of great political sophistication. . . . Factual, nuanced, and absorbing" (Kirkus Reviews). Photos.