This concise book (198 pages) sets the record straight on the biography of Eva Peron and the odyssey of her mummified body after her death.
Eva Peron
First published in 1980 after the success of the Broadway musical
Evita, authors Nicholas Fraser and Marysa Navarro debunk many myths that have risen up about Eva Marie Duarte's rise to power in Argentina.
Young Eva Maria Duarte
Born the illegitimate child of a ranch overseer, Eva and her family were ostracized by polite society. Wanting to be a famous actress like her idol Norma Shearer, Evita left home at age 15 to seek fame and fortune in Buenos Aires. The author's debunk the anti-Peronist legend that Evita was taken off as the mistress of a wealthy entertainer and say that she most likely was accompanied to the big city by her mother.
There is little doubt that in the course of her rise in the Argentine entertainment industry that Evita probably spent some time on the proverbial casting couch, leading to the myth that she had been a prostitute. Gaining notoriety as a soap opera actress on the radio, the young Eva met Colonel Juan Peron, the labor minister, when he recruited celebrities to raise money for the victims of an earthquake. She soon became Colonel Peron's mistress.
Eva and Juan Peron
The book details Peron's rise to power. When the ruling junta decided that Peron had too much power, they had him arrested and hauled him off to a prison on an island. While labor minister, Peron had granted many concessions to the labor unions, causing him to be beloved by the workers. When news of his arrest spread, the workers of Buenos Aires poured into the streets demanding Peron's release. Realizing that they could not machine gun a crowd of 200,000 unarmed civilians, the government capitulated and released Peron. In the following election, Juan Peron was elected President of Argentina.
The President and his lady
Eva Peron became beloved of the people when she began personally overseeing massive social programs for the poor. The book details that if the Eva Peron Foundation called up a business and asked for a "donation" it better be forthcoming or else health and building inspectors would be on their way to write up all the violations they would find. The book details that one businessman was so upset that his company accidentally sent Evita a bill that he fled to Uruguay to avoid arrest.
In the early 1950s, Eva was diagnosed with the uterine cancer which eventually took her life. One of the great demagogues of all time, Evita was able to stir the crowds into a frenzy. At times, even her husband was shocked and surprised by the level of near worship which was afforded Evita by the Argentine public.
The book details Eva's death and subsequent near canonization by the Argentine masses. It also goes into great detail about what happened to Evita's body. Mummified by an Argentine doctor, the body was held out awaiting the construction of a massive tomb. Before this could be built, Juan Peron was removed from power by a military coup. Fearing that Evita's body would be an object of worship for the Peronists, the junta set about to get rid of the corpse. After sitting around in a general's attic for years, the body was finally shipped to Italy and buried under a false name in an Italian cemetery. Peron's second wife, who became President of Argentina after Peron's death in 1974, had the body brought back to Argentina to try to shore up her sinking regime. After she was removed from power by yet another military coup, the body was quietly buried in a Buenos Aires cemetery.
Evita the Mummy
Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron is well worth the time to read it. Highly recommended.
"Protector of the Humble"
