Return of Eva Peron

The three main essays in this book are incredible: The story of Michael X, the Return of Eva Peron,and the focus on the (at the time) emerging nation of Zaire--once again The Congo. I'll tell you the truth I was terribly bored with everything I had been reading lately. I couldn't put this book down. I shall now attempt to read anything by Mr. Naipaul, who has a gift, yes a gift of communicating complex ideas without making me feel stupid. . .I suppose I was fortunate to find this book on my shelf as I see it is out of print. You folks out there who consider yourselves internationalists or "third worldists" especially you political radicals, please find this book and read it. You may want to compare the Argentine section to Edwardo Galleano's "Days and Nights in Love and War" . . .

This book consists of three seperate essays, written in the 1970s, which analyze historical events in Argentina, Zaire, and Trinidad. The writing is excellent and full of Naipaul's characteristic incisive insights into culture and history, but one needs to start with some interest and knowledge of the areas covered. The first essay, on Argentina in the early 1970s and the cult of Eva Peron is the best and longest. Reading the essay in Argentina last year, I found many of its brilliant insights on Argentine culture and history to still hold true. The weakness of the essay is its unsparingly critical stance. There is a mocking bitterness and that comes through in Naipual's perspective, which shows no sympathy for those who have to pay the consequences for the tragedies of history. For example, the section on Uruguay ends by noting that at the height of emigration, there was graffiti on the wall saying "last one to leave please turn out the lights." The second essay, on Mobutu Sese Seko's corrupt regime in Zaire is much shorter. It is a short, but in no way sweet. Mobutu deserved no less. The third essay, on a spate of violence in Trinidad, (Naipaul's birthplace) is less important and far less interesting. It chronicles the absurd pretentions and bloody deeds of a wanna-be black nationalist and has little larger significance. I did not find it worth reading.