Estos dos tomos editados por Corregidor, reúnen los libros que el General Perón escribió durante las distintas etapas de su exilio forzado por el golpe oligarquico de 1955. Es una obra imprescindible para conocer el pensamiento revolucionario del líder del pueblo argentino, además de una pieza fundamental para interpretar la historia argentina de la segunda mitad del siglo XX.

This is a monumental work by an author who made six trips to Argentina, and also traveled to Spain and Panama, while researching this book. The author refers to Juan Peron as the most remarkable and enduring leader in Latin American history. The author proceeds to describe this remarkable career, following Peron from his humble birth in rural Argentina, to his military training, to the Presidency (1946), exile, and return to Argentina in the early 1970s where he would die in office. Brief mention is made of Isabel's tragic and short reign as President after the death of her husband. Extensive information is also available regarding Peron's relationship with Eva Peron ("Evita"), with a few chapters devoted to her. A section of photographs is available as well.

The author's description of Juan Peron is comprehensive and complex, and may therefore be best suited for someone already very familiar with Peron and contemporary Argentine history. If you are looking for a more brief and succinct historical rendering of Peron's career, you may want to look elsewhere, perhaps to JUAN AND EVA PERON by Clive Foss. My favorite biography of Juan Peron is PERON AND ENIGMAS OF ARGENTINA by Robert D. Crassweller. Crassweller explains in PERON AND THE ENIGMAS OF ARGENTINA that Peron was a product of the "Hispanic Creole" tradition, and that all his successes and failures can be seen within the context of that culture, and in many ways were *shaped* by that culture. In fact, Crassweller argues that Peron's real talent was his keen insight into the culture, his keen intuition in understanding how to reach out to and unify as many different segments of Argentina as possible. While Joseph Page does attempt to provide cultural insight, he does not succeed to the extent that Crassweller does.

Joseph Page comes to a conclusion that may surprise many: that Juan Peron was a pacifist at heart; "He steadfastly rejected violence as an open instrument of policy." Page also points out the irony that Peron, once considered by some as a "South American Hitler," would have never plunged or plundered his country into war, and that it was the men who ousted Peron who went on to kill thousands of people.

It's the story of Juan Domingo Peron, the 'leader' of Argentina in the 5oth, Evita Peron - his secound wife and the 'heart' of Argentina and Isabelle Peron - his 3rd and last wive. It tells the story of three people that want to become a leader - two were it. But the only Peron who was loved by the people - I mean really loved - died too young to become a leader. Evita, or Maria Eva Duarte de Peron, died at 36. It's a great story of 3 great people

The book commences with a retrospective analysis -- thorough and complete -- of Argentina's history from viceroyalty to Peron. It traces the deep social roots of Spanish conquest and creole development within Argentine society. These concepts build upon one another in an outstanding work that explains Peron, his politics, his psychology, his return to the Casa Rosada from exile, and his country. There are too many historical/political characters for the first-time Latin American history reader, but definitely recommended to all interested in the region's past which somehow lingers on.

I have read most of the biographies available on Juan Perón, and I must say that this is by far the most culturally sensitive one I have ever found. This author helps to dispel many of the misconceptions about Juan Perón, who he was, and what he accomplished in Argentina. This book says that many of Juan Perón's failures and successes were pre-determined by his culture. The author then traces that culture back to its genesis with the Castile in Spain. This author's description of the Castile value systems and customs is very insightful and eloquent.

This book has so much breadth and depth and cultural understanding that it is amazing. This book has helped me greatly even in my own personal life because, though I am not Argentine, I am a part of the Hispanic Creole tradition that the author says Juan Perón belonged to, and this culture is often misunderstood. My Grandfather was from Mexico. The confusion that occurred in Argentina in regard to the Peróns is the same confusion that I have dealt with all my life. This book says that there are largely two worlds at work in Argentina: the Hispanic Creole world, and the Anglo world. I have lived within these two worlds myself, though I have done so in the United States. The misunderstandings that can occur between these two worlds, the lack of communication, can often be very painful and difficult. This book has truly helped me to understand and resolve many conflicts and confusions, including understanding my own father. This book has given me deep insight into myself, and has helped me understand and identify the common themes that run throughout all of Hispanic cultures and countries.

This author uses Evita herself as an example of cultural misunderstandings, and says that her legacy and behavior was often misinterpreted. He says she lived and died as a testimony to "the inability of one ethos truly to understand another." Even Evita's dying in public was an aspect of the Hispanic Creole preoccupation with death and the splendor and dignity associated with it, it was a public confirmation of devotion to her people. Those outside of this tradition did not hold this view of death and looked upon Evita's public dying as merely a sickening and morose political ploy, a desperate and offensive last-ditch cry for political propaganda. The author refers to such misunderstandings as "the legacy of incomprehension."

It is this "lacuna," this cultural misunderstanding, that led to many other grossly inaccurate "projections" onto Perón and Evita by their opposition and foreigners. The most common of these "projections" being the belief, still held by some, that Perón and Evita were fascists and nazis, thus: "Peronism was not fascism . . ." [page 220]; "Peronism was not nazism . . . 'there is less anti-semitism in Buenos Aires (in the 1940s) than in New York City'" [page 221]; "The names of Perón and Evita were everywhere . . . (t)he domestic opposition to Perón found all of this distressing, and so did general opinion outside Argentina. Many concluded it was part of a dictatorial buildup, or the conscious campaign for ego-satisfaction by a pair of leaders thirsting for glory. But this missed the point. Rather, adulation personalized in this manner was another facet of the symbiosis between the leader in the caudillo-oriented Creole tradition and his followers, a generally spontaneous response by loyal supporters of a strong ruler." [page 211]

This author helps the reader to see Juan Perón clearly. Juan Perón was not a saint, but he was not the devil many have made him out to be. He was a politician composed of the good and bad present in all politicians. And he was misunderstood.

I have read most of the biographies available on Juan Perón, and I must say that this is by far the most culturally sensitive one I have ever found. This author helps to dispel many of the misconceptions about Juan Perón, who he was, and what he accomplished in Argentina. This book says that many of Juan Perón's failures and successes were pre-determined by his culture. The author then traces that culture back to its genesis with the Castile in Spain. This author's description of the Castile value systems and customs is very insightful and eloquent.

This book has so much breadth and depth and cultural understanding that it is amazing. This book has helped me greatly even in my own personal life because, though I am not Argentine, I am a part of the Hispanic Creole tradition that the author says Juan Perón belonged to, and this culture is often misunderstood. My Grandfather was from Mexico. The confusion that occurred in Argentina in regard to the Peróns is the same confusion that I have dealt with all my life. This book says that there are largely two worlds at work in Argentina: the Hispanic Creole world, and the Anglo world. I have lived within these two worlds myself, though I have done so in the United States. The misunderstandings that can occur between these two worlds, the lack of communication, can often be very painful and difficult. This book has truly helped me to understand and resolve many conflicts and confusions, including understanding my own father. This book has given me deep insight into myself, and has helped me understand and identify the common themes that run throughout all of Hispanic cultures and countries.

This author uses Evita herself as an example of cultural misunderstandings, and says that her legacy and behavior was often misinterpreted. He says she lived and died as a testimony to "the inability of one ethos truly to understand another." Even Evita's dying in public was an aspect of the Hispanic Creole preoccupation with death and the splendor and dignity associated with it, it was a public confirmation of devotion to her people. Those outside of this tradition did not hold this view of death and looked upon Evita's public dying as merely a sickening and morose political ploy, a desperate and offensive last-ditch cry for political propaganda. The author refers to such misunderstandings as "the legacy of incomprehension."

It is this "lacuna," this cultural misunderstanding, that led to many other grossly inaccurate "projections" onto Perón and Evita by their opposition and foreigners. The most common of these "projections" being the belief, still held by some, that Perón and Evita were fascists and nazis, thus: "Peronism was not fascism . . ." [page 220]; "Peronism was not nazism . . . " [page 221]; "The names of Perón and Evita were everywhere . . . (t)he domestic opposition to Perón found all of this distressing, and so did general opinion outside Argentina. Many concluded it was part of a dictatorial buildup, or the conscious campaign for ego-satisfaction by a pair of leaders thirsting for glory. But this missed the point. Rather, adulation personalized in this manner was another facet of the symbiosis between the leader in the caudillo-oriented Creole tradition and his followers, a generally spontaneous response by loyal supporters of a strong ruler." [page 211]

This author helps the reader to see Juan Perón clearly. Juan Perón was not a saint, but he was not the devil many have made him out to be. He was a politician composed of the good and bad present in all politicians. And he was misunderstood.

Really a fantastic book, in which the novel is mixed with historical facts which not only captivates you in the way as it is written, but also introduces some light to certain facts that took place after Evita's death, specifically, the outregious destination given to Evita's body which were never publicly revealed.

For me, an Argentine citizien born in Buenos Aires some years (not many) after Evita's death, who in some way or in the other has been always captivated by Evita's personality, although did not share some of her political aspirations and procedures, was somehow tired of hearing huge and enormous amount of histories in relation to Evita's body, with this book I was illustrated in some portion of the history of my country which was secret and maintained undisclosed from the public for many years after Evita's death.

To those who may consider that some parts of this book appears more a fiction than a historical fact, well, believe it or not, it was a "real" portion of our past history and not "fiction" or "myth".

While claiming to be a novel, much of what is written in this macabre book is documentable as fact. The lines between fact and fiction are hazy at best; but this enhances the fascination with the story of a novelist obsessed with Eva Peron as he researches her profound effect on her people, and as he searches out the trail her body took in the 17 years after her death. With accidental murder and possible necrophilia involved, this is not a light tale, but it's engrossing; for poetry fans, there seems to be a deliberate parallel drawn between the cult of Evita and the cult of Sylvia Plath. Truly a fascinating and frightening story

Seeing that "the only thing that can be done with reality is to invent it again," Tomás Eloy Martínez brilliantly transposes Evita's postmortem journey into an outrageous postmodern fictional montage wherein the author, represented as a fictitious character and narrator in the novel, spins a web of biography, history and myth into a effervescently farcical and sombrely perverse narrative, mellifluously illuminating the woman who "ceased to be what she said and what she did to become what people say she said and what people say she did." The end-result is a gripping tale which sheds new light upon details that biographers and historians commonly leave behind, seeking to unfold "the unexplained blank spaces" of her domain while tracking the political, mythical, historical body of desires which Evita's cadaver, the body of the nation, incorporates. And quite marvellously, in the interim, the textuality of Santa Evita undrapes the roots of the complex set of relations which provide an understanding of the corpus of discursive regularities that extend the representation of Argentina to Evita's embalmed cadaver as the novel bares and reconstructs the miracles, desires, secrets, and mysteries including the fragments and revelations which triggered the narrative flow, as "little by little Evita began to turn into a story that, before it ended, kindled another." Simply put, a literary work of art.

As is the case with many books aimed at the young reader (I found this book when I was 15), this book simplifies its subject. The only problem is that Peronism and Juan Peron the man are extraordinarily complex. Where this book succeeds is in the linear retelling of who Peron was and what he did, where it fails is in its interpretation of significance behind his actions. In other words, this book has no cultural sensitivity.

In PERON AND THE ENIGMAS OF ARGENTINA Robert D. Crassweller writes, "No one can know the order of precedence between spiritual and psychic appeals and those purely materialistic, and many have assumed that Peronist populism was all bread and no circus bartered for political support. But this is much too narrow a view of human purpose. A great deal that was religious and quasi-religious went into the enfolded depths of Peronism, and Peron made almost exquisite use of the spiritual themes and ethical values that time long forgotten had contributed to the civilization." (pp. 233) This book by Dechancie seems in large part to make this assumption, that Peronism was all bread and and no circus bartered for political support. It does not attempt to understand the spiritual implications inherent in the "caudillo" (strong leader) tradition of which Peron was a part. Such an attitude toward leadership is unheard of in Anglo-Saxon based cultures, in fact, the United States model of government is largely found in opposition to the idea of a strong central leader. It is inevitable then that if one does not view someone like Juan Peron within the context of the Argentine culture, one will not understand him and will project things on to him. Minds shaped by the political landscape of the United States often cannot help but view a strong leader with a hint of suspicion. We rejected the Monarchical system at our country's founding, and strong leaders often look like a monarchy to us. In fact, Juan and Eva Peron indeed became something of a monarchy for their people.

And that is exactly what happens in this book: the author consistently calls Juan Peron a dictator. Most well-researched biographies, such as the one I list above, note that Peron was far from being a dictator. He was elected three times by overwhelming popular support, and even then he often had to bargain for support. All of his decisions were made with the backing of overwhelming popular support. It's just that the setting and the tone of his government was so alien to the North American model that it would often be misinterpreted. Adding to the confusion, World War II had just ended - Peron addressed his followers from the balcony. It didn't "look" good to the North American observer (adding to the confusion, the name "Eva Peron" sounds strikingly like the name "Eva Braun"). And though Peron had admitted to admiration for Mussolini, Peron noted that Mussolini had made great mistakes and Peron never erected a fascist government. Further, there was no official anti-semitism in Peronism and some noted there was less bigotry against Jewish people in Buenos Aires during Peron's era than there was in New York City of the same time-frame. The Jewish population in Buenos Aires was at that time, and remains, one of the largest in the world. Thankfully, this book makes note of the fact that there were no slaughterhouses in Peronism and that Peron was eager to renounce his position of power and go into exile in Spain rather than engulf his country in a bloody civil war. It was the military dictators who assumed power after Peron who would disappear tens of thousands of people in the Dirty War (For a beautiful and haunting movie about the Argentine Dirty War, see the movie available on Amazon called THE OFFICIAL STORY).

Peron is ambiguous to one not fully aware of his history. Without full awareness of Peronism's history, one is forced to make assumptions about him and place him in the mental categories at hand. "Dictator" seems about right for those not familiar with the system Peron worked in and represented, and that is the word this book often uses.

I would recommend this book to someone interested in the linear narration of Peron's life (when he was born, where he served as a general, when he became President, when he fled to Spain, when he returned, etc.), but I would caution against taking the interpretations of the author too literally. The thing that I find outstanding about this book is the incredible parade of pictures, though all black and white they are very high quality reproductions (finding high quality reproductions from the Peronist era can be difficult). To see what the cover of this book looks like, search for the VHS video "Juan & Evita Peron" available on the Amazon site (this video is on my list of "Eva Perón - Biographies and studies of Evita" [#18 on my list]). The cover artwork is the same on both products (though the cover text, obviously, is different).

Since there is no synopsis of the book here, I will write one and then write my opinion.

It is 1973 and Peron is summoned back to Argentina after 18? years in exile in Madrid. He is now an old man and his movement has moved beyond his own strict ideology. His return is viewed through the eyes of no fewer than 20 people, who are in the process of making some sense out of Peron's life and his tendency towards Megalomania. These range from his wife, Isabella, his relatives, his president, ex-military companions, and some wierd extremist groups (which I DID NOT understand, sorry Tomas).

OK- now I transition into opinion. The truly unique thing about this book is that it centers around a one week period, but retells this same week from a multitude of standpoints, some even demented. Many times throughout the book I seriously considered flying to Iowa to hunt down the author and ask him "how much of this is true??" He puts himself in the book as a reporter, and it is plausible that he actually met Peron. I feel sure he has mountains of good info, and probably could write an engaging biography of this man (which then of course no one would read, so maybe this is his point).

While I did like this book, I was much more engaged by the writing itself and the odd twists or context and historical events that he describes than in the actual content. I forced myself to read it because I knew I'd like it, more than I was compelled to read it.

And if you're still reading this, go to Santa Evita and read that first, because it has all the advantages of this peculiarly odd book with a much more engaging topic. Then read this because this Tomas Eloy is a fantastic writer.

Although I had Madsen as a professor at the University of Iowa and thouroughly enjoyed the class, Political Behavior, the man can not write! The piece is very dry and moves very slowly. Although it is easy to understand, except when he gets to chapter 3 and starts to talk about the derivations and math stuff. I know that case studies are not interesting most of the time, but he could have tried a little bit harder to make it so. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I have read dozens of books on political behavior, and have been disenchanted by most of them. This however was not the case with The Charismatic Bond. The story of Juan Peron itself is magnificent, but Madsen and Snow seem to help us understand the story of the people that made Peron legendary, as well as, circumstances that surrounded his rise and subsequent fall. Despite all of this you still must have a taste for politics to enjoy this book.

The premise is cute and, oddly enough, believable within the text of the book. However, the book is much too short. The reader is left with the feeling that the author wrote a great beginning and a dynamite ending but didn't know what to put in between. Still worth reading if the high hardback price doesn't daunt you.