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 … 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.
more
Pure chance is the reason I picked up this book. I was doing a crossword puzzle, and the clue was “_ _ _ Peron.” Then a few days later, another crossword puzzle with the clue “Don’t _ _ _ for Me Argentina.” I thought nothing of the coincidence, except now that song became an earworm. A constant loop in my head of the 2 lines I know. With the earworm singing in my head, I opened my Book Bub email and, lo and behold, Evita was one of the daily discounted books.
The story of Evita Peron is incredible, and she was a larger than life figure while alive as well as in death. María Eva Duarte de Perón was born on May 7, 1919, to Juana Ibarguren and Juan Duarte, a wealthy rancher who already had a wife and children before he started a family with Ibarguren. Juana’s relationship with Duarte ended, and he returned to his wife and children, leaving Juana and her children penniless. She sooned moved her family to Las Pampas, trying to eke out a living in the impoverished rural town. Duarte died suddenly, leaving Juana with nothing but a document declaring the children were his, hence Evita’s use of his surname.
Evita’s dream was to be an actress, and she moved to Buenos Aires. She worked in theater and as a model, and did manage to snag a few film roles. And while the consensus was that she was a terrible actress, her ability to pick boyfriends with wealth, influence and power ensured her success as a movie star. And then she met Juan Perón.
The Peróns were able to connect with Argentina’s working-class descamisados, the shirtless ones. The Peróns identified with the descamisados and their impassioned campaign speeches portrayed the worker as a human, no longer a machine. When Perón took office, Evita became his second in command, an outrage to masculine pride in Perón’s cabinet. However, the descamisados saw their standard of living increase dramatically, receiving pay increases often up to 50%, four weeks of holidays, sick leave and the 13th month check bonus which was given to workers right before Christmas. Juan and Evita had delivered on their promises and the descamisados were smitten with the couple.
Evita was in a position of power and anyone who had crossed her in the past was swiftly dealt with, and harshly. But for her descamisados, she built schools, hospitals, homes for unwed mothers, homes for the elderly, parks, recreation centers, seaside resorts for workers, and held lotteries giving away houses.
She died at 33 of cervical cancer. Argentina is one of those countries that have a strange obsession with the corpses of their leaders. Evita’s descamisados lined up in the freezing rain, waiting up to 15 hours just to get a 20-second look at their beloved Evita. Her embalmed body was to be placed into a mausoleum taller than the Statue of Liberty, ready to be viewed behind a glass pane. However, that never happened and her perfectly embalmed body was kept in a Perón deputy’s apartment. One morning he was awakened by noises and thought something nefarious was happening with the body. Unfortunately, it was his pregnant wife, and he shot and killed her. Evita’s body was then moved to military headquarters for a time, then buried in Milan, Italy. It was returned to Argentina 17 years later for proper burial.
These are just some of the highlights to Evita’s story. No matter how beautiful her clothes or expensive her jewelry, she was their savior and the descamisados would love her for eternity. Indeed, the Cult of Evita wanted to know where her body was, and the president after Peron was overthrown, kidnapped and murdered in an attempt to learn Evita’s whereabouts. There is so much more to Evita, and I really do recommend this as a fascinating read. This is the only book I’ve read on the subject and I didn’t see the musical, so I can’t compare, but I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
https://candysplanet.wordpress.com/