If what you know about Evita Peron-- the semi-mythical co-ruler of Argentina along with her general-hustand turned civilian politico, Juan in the late 1940s and early 1950s-- is Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical Evita, this is an eye-opener. Yes, Eva Peron was illegitimate, started life poor, and was vain, but was she the tyrant she's painted in the musical? Perhaps not. A collaborative effort between a London Times correspondent and a Dartmouth History professor, it's a vastly more balanced picture of a remarkable individual: a woman who succeeded in an overwhelmingly male culture. The author's describe a complex individual-- both bold and shy, both wholly intolerant of criticism and apparently sincerely interested in helping Argentina's poor. She was not as promiscuous as popular myth has subsequently painted her, but she was not above using sex. The book makes the case that she genuinely loved Peron, a man twice her age, (and growing up without a father, may have had something do with that), but she could be fickle, drawing friends almost stultifying close to her and then dismissing them without much cause. Oddly enough, having started her career as an actress, she had a low opinion (probably justified) of her acting talent. This isn't the whole story, but it does serve to somewhat re-humanize an icon.

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