Evita, First Lady: A Biography of Evita Peron
by John Barnes
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Book Summary Information
Author: John BarnesEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1996-09-16
ISBN: 0802134793
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Grove Press
Book Reviews of Evita, First Lady: A Biography of Evita Peron
Book Review: Entertaining but Incredibly Flawed.
Summary: 2 Stars
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.
Summary of Evita, First Lady: A Biography of Evita Peron
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.
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