Reviews for Victoria History of the County of Sussex The Rape of Chichester

The average rating for Victoria History of the County of Sussex The Rape of Chichester based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-01-26 00:00:00 Eric Ugalde This is a very well-written biography about an extremely controversial and complex dictator. I had forgotten how the story of Evita was entwined with Perón's story. Peron was a special kind of dictator - similar to Franco in some ways (previous military background, balancing opposing forces in a divide and conquer manner to hang on to power), but different in other ways. I guess one of the most surprising and complex differences are how he was neither a leftist nor a rightist. In fact, he coined the term "Third Way" as being somewhere between the two. At first this is surprising because of his reputation of sympathy and support for fascists and in particular Nazis. In fact, it seems that it was more opportunistic than idealogical. Yes, he did turn a blind eye to many Nazis leaving Germany once the Third Reich's fate was sealed, but so did a lot of countries (note that as military governor of Bavaria, Patton turned a blind eye to former Nazi party cadres returning to their jobs after the war). Peron espoused a typical Catholic conservative worldview and later in life spouted idiotic theories about Zionist conspiracies and so forth, but he also was loved by labor. This is because, in his quest for power and given his peasant origins, he quickly realized that making overtures to the working class and keeping them happy would essentially guarantee his power. While this was mostly true, it was also a liability that was to cost Argentina heavily in the long run. In fact, he was kicked out of Argentina for 17 years but they were turbulent years of increasing violence which peaked at the moment of his return. Well, return may be a strong word since he returned old and sick and barely lasted a year once assuming power before he passed away from untreated medical issues. The violence, once again surprisingly, pitted the peronists of the extreme right (which we can understand in a dictatorship) against peronists of the extreme left (surprising because they claimed legitimacy from Peron's history with the labor movement but were cold-hearted killers like those on the extreme right). It was a complete mess and cost thousands of lives and years to recuperate for the country. As for Evita, she was one in a long line of women (before and after) far younger than Peron that he fell in love with. I learned that he even started a sort of sports academy for teen girls that, well, you can fill in the blanks. Evita herself was a dynamic and rather violent public speaker. Pretty much extreme right but with the same penchant as Peron for aligning labor with her ideas, she did accomplish some social reform and was beloved of the people of Argentina. Unfortunately, she died young (shortly before Peron fled Argentina) and her body then underwent a strange and macabre voyage before returning to Argentina with Peron in 1973. I never saw the film with Madonna about Evita, but reading just a few reviews, it seems that the film had absolutely no connection to reality. For example, Che Guevara and Evita never met and he was not stalking her. In any case, having never really been to Argentina, I can only go by what Page wrote in this book back in 1982, she is apparently still worshipped in Argentina as a symbol of the decamisados - the "shirtless ones" or the workers that lent their support to the Peronist movement. I suppose I need to find a book (similar to Out of the Shadows) about post-Peron Argentina to understand how the state evolved after his passing and how they fell in another hold financially two decades later. In any case, Page's biography is highly readable and informative about this particular dictator who was a master of Machiavellian politics and remains a very complex figure to try to understand.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-08-05 00:00:00 Michael Barre La calidad de esta biografía es genial. El libro lo compré en El Ateneo Grand Splendid de Buenos Aires, le pregunté a uno de los vendedores: "¿Cuál es el mejor libro para entender la vida de Perón?" y me recomendó este libro escrito por Page. Realmente, disfruté leyendo este libro.