Eva Peron

Argentineans have cried over or vilified the peroxided patron saint of Peronism since her death at 33 in 1952. Mistress, then wife of the ambitious colonel who fashioned a populist fascism supported by the trade unions, Eva Peron exploited her ascendancy to become a philanthropic force in his regime, shows the author. Cleverly extracting from Peter to pay Paul, she set up an Eva Peron Foundation to succor the poor and sucker businessmen dependent on the president's tolerance. On the side, the pair enriched themselves, while ""Evita"" became a world figure. A minor, moneyless radio actress from the provinces at the beginning, at her end she was mummified, like Lenin, for veneration in a glass-topped casket that would undergo more vicissitudes after Peron's ouster than she'd experienced in life. It is the stuff of a compelling story--and a hit musical soon to be a film (starring Madonna), which may explain why this virtually unsourced apologia is being published. More than 30 biographies of Evita have appeared in Spanish alone, perhaps a dozen in English. This one is not a distinguished addition to that company. French journalist Ortiz's meandering, sentimental prose may be less disconcerting in the original Spanish than in Fields's translation, but the book often strains logic as well as language. Photos not seen by PW. History Book Club and QPB selections; audio rights to Books on Tape. (Nov.)