Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron

Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron by Nicholas Fraser is a biography that tells the life story of Evita Peron, who was the wife of Argentine President Juan Peron and the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until 1952. She remains an important figure in Latin American history, and her story has been immortalized through film and musical theatre. In this biography, Fraser seeks to dispel any misconceptions about Evita, differentiating between the fictitious accounts and the actual facts of her life. Although she remains a romanticized figure in Argentina, Fraser strives to paint Eva in a new light, one that shows her as fully human in all her flaws and glory.

The book starts by describing Evita’s early life, as Eva Duarte, one of five children to parents Juan Duarte and Doña Juana, who was actually the mistress of Evita’s father. Juan Duarte also had a wife, and once they had children together, Juan left Doña to take care of the five children on her own. Evita grew up poor, and this remained the case until her older siblings were able to secure work and start bringing money into the household. Since she was very young, she had ambitions of becoming an actor. This inspired her to move from her hometown of Junin to Buenos Aires, believing that she would have more opportunities to get involved in the acting world and, hopefully, to be discovered.

When she moved to Buenos Aires, Evita had nothing. She had to build a life for herself and a career from scratch. Eventually, after much hard work, Evita did earn some success as an actor, landing some leading roles in soap operas, and was featured in several movies. Still, she did not attain the stardom that she had envisioned for herself, and this caused her to seek other avenues that might better serve the greatness she felt she had inside of her.



It was not until she met her future husband, Juan Peron that Evita felt that her life was living up to her standards. Although she was from small-town Argentina, she dreamed of being known nation-wide, perhaps even internationally. She could not have realized what this fateful meeting would mean for her and the people of Argentina. When they met, Peron was head of the Department of Labor as well as a Colonel in the Argentine military. Peron recognized the corruption that existed in the government he was serving under, and he strove to use his position to improve people’s lives, including organizing unions for the working class with the goal of protecting worker’s rights. Inspired by his drive, Evita became involved in the organization of the unions, and together she and Peron fought to protect vulnerable laborers from exploitative working conditions.

Eventually, there was a military coup, removing the corrupt political regime and placing Peron in power. At this point, Evita was not yet thirty, though she had strong ideas about the way things should run and a feisty personality that become renowned among the Argentine people. This marked the beginning of Evita’s rise, and her becoming an iconic figure in Latin American history.

Although she had no background in politics, Evita took her husband’s position as an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of this new world. She became a beacon of hope for Argentina’s poor and marginalized communities, visiting people in person and interacting with them in a very down-to-earth, human way, that was totally different from anything they had experienced with politicians in the past. Evita created her own foundation to help the poor, which contributed to her immense popularity. She began to appear with greater frequency in the public eye, making speeches and was well-known in her own right, independent of her relationship to her husband.



Unfortunately, Evita did not live long enough to see all of her labor come to fruition. She was diagnosed with uterine cancer, news that left the public reeling. She had gained a true following and was adored by the Argentine people who listened to her impassioned speeches and were filled with hope, maybe for the first time in their lives. After her death in 1952, the entire country mourned for her.

Evita’s body was heavily embalmed and placed on public display until Peron was overthrown and exiled. Even after her death, her body continued to be a symbol of the Peron era and was moved around, argued over by supporters and denouncers alike. When support for Peron decreased, Evita began to grow into a pop culture figure due to her portrayal in popular media. Through Evita: The Real Life of Eva Person, Fraser explains the history of these events in detail, carefully distinguishing between fact and fiction and offering a more balanced view of one of Argentina’s most beloved figures.