Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron

This book puts into perspective many of the myths and half-truths surrounding the life and death of Eva Peron. If you believe that she was 1/4 of what the musical and the movie said she was, for heaven's sake, read this book! This is the fifth book I've read on this subject and it is by far the best. I would encourage you to follow it up with "Evita In My Own Words" - which is her alleged deathbed manuscript.

This biography was originally released over 20 years ago when the stage version of "EVITA" was a worldwide smash. At the time, this book was definately the best book ever released on the subject (along side Julie Taylor's EVA PERON: THE MYTHS OF A WOMAN) mainly because of it's fair treatment of Eva and also due to the fact that it was well researched and balanced. Twenty years later and nothing has changed since it remains the BEST biography ever written in the English language about the brilliant but controversial Maria Eva Duarte de Peron. Somehow the writers managed to write a biography that is engrossing, informative and extremely helpful especially in understanding the late Evita's character and personality. It also digs deep into her life and it gives us great insight into her charitable works. I had originally read this book over 10 years ago and was delighted to see it re-issued in 1996 (to co-inside with the release of the film "Evita"). The new re-issued version includes a NEW INTRO and an epilogue which includes some insight into the stage musical. What impressed me about this book is that it's written in a non-biased manner. Unfortunately (for Eva) many of the books written about her in the English language are maliciously one-sided and hostile to her character and morals. On the flipside, most of the books written about her in Spanish are extremely sugary and convert her into some sort of madonna (NO, not that MADONNA!!). Either way, the reader is given a prejudiced account of Eva's life history and the reader will end up either loathing her or venerating her. This book displays Eva's life as it should be seen and it portrays Eva as a flawed but still exceptional human being. Both her admirers and her enemies agree that the woman was anything but dull. Yet they all convert her into an utterly dreary, one dimensional being with solely one purpose in life and totally lacking in realistic qualities. Even Evita's beauty is treated differently by her different audiences. She is either a blonde sex fiend who used her sex and beauty as a viscious weapon or she's a saintly, sexless deity whose loveliness is to be admired in the most asexual manner. Nicholas Fraser and Marysa Navarro show us the human Eva Duarte with all of her flaws and strenghts, and although she still comes across as a larger than life Goddess, the author's portrayal of her is fair and consistant and back up their claims with witness testimony and historical fact. I have seen several interviews with Marysa Navarro and you can tell she is absolutely intrigued by Eva Peron and always refers to her in a positive light. One must keep in mind that she has spent a lifetime researching this enigmatic woman and has published several books on her in spanish - her spanish biography EVITA is also excellent and is probably the greatest in-depth account of Eva ever published in any language. The only minor complaint I have regarding the book is the lack of photographs. Don't get me wr

EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON is the definitive biography of the woman most famously known as the subject of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. What this book has that all other biographies lack is: research. The authors visited Argentina in the process of their writing, and interviewed dozens of people who knew and worked with Evita.The other key ingredient to the success of this book is the neutrality of the authors. They don't have anything invested in what the reader thinks of Eva Peron. They do not want to sway the reader in any particular direction. The authors are neither "pro" nor "anti"-Evita. In the preface to the book they make the promise to try to present Eva as a human being, but concede that this is not as simple a task as it sounds. Evita, they claim, is buried beneath more myth and fantasy than any other historical figure of modern times. Originally published in 1980 as EVA PERON, this re-issue, made to coincide with the release of the movie starring Madonna, contains a new introduction and epilogue in which Nicholas Fraser comments on the odd re-emergence of Evita as a late 20th Century phenomenon. Astonishingly, the re-emergence was predicted by Evita, who said, "I will return and I will be millions," shortly before she died. Though her story is at last a part of history in her homeland, "In the rest of the world," writes the author, "she has attained the condition of apotheosis." Fraser theorizes that the return may have to do with the fact that we live in a celebrity obsessed era where actors are paid more attention than politicians, making Evita - an actress-turned-politician who was accused by her opponents of turning national political life into show business - the perfect minor deity. I would recommend EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON to anyone interested in a somewhat scholarly rendering of Evita's life, as opposed to sensational pop biography (such as EVA PERON by Alicia Dujovne Ortiz).

After seeing a documentary on Evita, I thought I knew everything about her. This book added more interesting parts of her life (as well as what happened after she died). I'd read it again. I can't see how anyone could not enjoy it.

This is a concise, well-researched and balanced book looking at both the history and the myths of Eva Peron. For people interested in this topic because of either the movie or theater version of Evita, it provides a lot of the historical background material behind the lyrics written by Tim Rice. Many of the phrases, lines, and snide comments in the lyrics are straight out of what had already been said or written about Eva Peron.