The definitive biography of Evita, 21 Dec 2003
EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON is the definitive biography of the woman most famously known as the subject of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. What this book has that all other biographies lack is: research. The authors visited Argentina in the process of their writing, and interviewed dozens of people who knew and worked with Evita.

The other key ingredient to the success of this book is the neutrality of the authors. They don't have anything invested in what the reader thinks of Eva Peron. They do not want to sway the reader in any particular direction. The authors are neither "pro" nor "anti"-Evita. In the preface to the book they make the promise to try to present Eva as a human being, but concede that this is not as simple a task as it sounds. Evita, they claim, is buried beneath more myth and fantasy than any other historical figure of modern times.

Originally published in 1980 as EVA PERON, this re-issue, made to coincide with the release of the movie starring Madonna, contains a new introduction and epilogue in which Nicholas Fraser comments on the odd re-emergence of Evita as a late 20th Century phenomenon. Astonishingly, the re-emergence was predicted by Evita, who said, "I will return and I will be millions," shortly before she died. Though her story is at last a part of history in her homeland, "In the rest of the world," writes the author, "she has attained the condition of apotheosis." Fraser theorizes that the return may have to do with the fact that we live in a celebrity obsessed era where actors are paid more attention than politicians, making Evita - an actress-turned-politician who was accused by her opponents of turning national political life into show business - the perfect minor deity.

I would recommend EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON to anyone interested in a somewhat scholarly rendering of Evita's life, as opposed to sensational pop biography (such as EVA PERON by Alicia Dujovne Ortiz).

Andrew Parodi

A true classic!, 24 Jun 2003
This book is a very informative and touching look at the life of perhaps the most influencial woman of the twentieth century.Like a phoenix from the ashes Eva Peron rose from her childhood of extreme poverty to become the world's leading first lady.This book is account of her life and includes all that you would need to know about Evita,it looks at both sides of the story and based on this makes very truthful and fair decisions on Eva's life, personally and politically.A true classic that Evita herself would be proud of.

The definitive biography of Evita, 21 Dec 2003
EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON is the definitive biography of the woman most famously known as the subject of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. What this book has that all other biographies lack is: research. The authors visited Argentina in the process of their writing, and interviewed dozens of people who knew and worked with Evita.

The other key ingredient to the success of this book is the neutrality of the authors. They don't have anything invested in what the reader thinks of Eva Peron. They do not want to sway the reader in any particular direction. The authors are neither "pro" nor "anti"-Evita. In the preface to the book they make the promise to try to present Eva as a human being, but concede that this is not as simple a task as it sounds. Evita, they claim, is buried beneath more myth and fantasy than any other historical figure of modern times.

Originally published in 1980 as EVA PERON, this re-issue, made to coincide with the release of the movie starring Madonna, contains a new introduction and epilogue in which Nicholas Fraser comments on the odd re-emergence of Evita as a late 20th Century phenomenon. Astonishingly, the re-emergence was predicted by Evita, who said, "I will return and I will be millions," shortly before she died. Though her story is at last a part of history in her homeland, "In the rest of the world," writes the author, "she has attained the condition of apotheosis." Fraser theorizes that the return may have to do with the fact that we live in a celebrity obsessed era where actors are paid more attention than politicians, making Evita - an actress-turned-politician who was accused by her opponents of turning national political life into show business - the perfect minor deity.

I would recommend EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON to anyone interested in a somewhat scholarly rendering of Evita's life, as opposed to sensational pop biography (such as EVA PERON by Alicia Dujovne Ortiz).

Andrew Parodi

A true classic!, 24 Jun 2003
This book is a very informative and touching look at the life of perhaps the most influencial woman of the twentieth century.Like a phoenix from the ashes Eva Peron rose from her childhood of extreme poverty to become the world's leading first lady.This book is account of her life and includes all that you would need to know about Evita,it looks at both sides of the story and based on this makes very truthful and fair decisions on Eva's life, personally and politically.A true classic that Evita herself would be proud of.

A very original book, 31 Jan 2004
I have to admit, when I first saw this book, I HAD to buy it because it covers an area which is generally under-researched in Western literature. It skilly describes the escape route for many Nazis and their non-German collaborators after WW2. It is interesting to note how 100's escaped to Juan Peron's pro-Nazi Argentina, including members of the Belgian Rexist Party, French Vichy Regime and Croatian Ustashi.
It also demonstrates Pope Pius XII's connection to the Nazi escape routes, to a great degree organised by Catholic clergymen, such as Father Krunoslav Draganovic and Father Alois Hudal. Those who constantly claim that the highest elements of the Catholic Church weren't anti-Semitic and didn't support the Nazis are kidding themselves and are obviously refusing to acknowledge the truth, even when it slaps them in the face.

There is extensive evidence in Goni's book but also other books, such as Vladimir Dedijer's "Yugoslav Auschwitz", clearly demonstrating that members of the Croatian Ustashi were personally blessed by Pius himself in 1941 and unofficially supported the Ustashi's genocide of Serbs, Jews and Romanies in the Independent State of Croatia. So much for Catholic "morality" and "values".

I strongly recommend this book and the only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because there are a FEW points in the book where it becomes slightly tedious.

The definitive biography of Evita, 21 Dec 2003
EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON is the definitive biography of the woman most famously known as the subject of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. What this book has that all other biographies lack is: research. The authors visited Argentina in the process of their writing, and interviewed dozens of people who knew and worked with Evita.

The other key ingredient to the success of this book is the neutrality of the authors. They don't have anything invested in what the reader thinks of Eva Peron. They do not want to sway the reader in any particular direction. The authors are neither "pro" nor "anti"-Evita. In the preface to the book they make the promise to try to present Eva as a human being, but concede that this is not as simple a task as it sounds. Evita, they claim, is buried beneath more myth and fantasy than any other historical figure of modern times.

Originally published in 1980 as EVA PERON, this re-issue, made to coincide with the release of the movie starring Madonna, contains a new introduction and epilogue in which Nicholas Fraser comments on the odd re-emergence of Evita as a late 20th Century phenomenon. Astonishingly, the re-emergence was predicted by Evita, who said, "I will return and I will be millions," shortly before she died. Though her story is at last a part of history in her homeland, "In the rest of the world," writes the author, "she has attained the condition of apotheosis." Fraser theorizes that the return may have to do with the fact that we live in a celebrity obsessed era where actors are paid more attention than politicians, making Evita - an actress-turned-politician who was accused by her opponents of turning national political life into show business - the perfect minor deity.

I would recommend EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON to anyone interested in a somewhat scholarly rendering of Evita's life, as opposed to sensational pop biography (such as EVA PERON by Alicia Dujovne Ortiz).

Andrew Parodi

A true classic!, 24 Jun 2003
This book is a very informative and touching look at the life of perhaps the most influencial woman of the twentieth century.Like a phoenix from the ashes Eva Peron rose from her childhood of extreme poverty to become the world's leading first lady.This book is account of her life and includes all that you would need to know about Evita,it looks at both sides of the story and based on this makes very truthful and fair decisions on Eva's life, personally and politically.A true classic that Evita herself would be proud of.

A very original book, 31 Jan 2004
I have to admit, when I first saw this book, I HAD to buy it because it covers an area which is generally under-researched in Western literature. It skilly describes the escape route for many Nazis and their non-German collaborators after WW2. It is interesting to note how 100's escaped to Juan Peron's pro-Nazi Argentina, including members of the Belgian Rexist Party, French Vichy Regime and Croatian Ustashi.
It also demonstrates Pope Pius XII's connection to the Nazi escape routes, to a great degree organised by Catholic clergymen, such as Father Krunoslav Draganovic and Father Alois Hudal. Those who constantly claim that the highest elements of the Catholic Church weren't anti-Semitic and didn't support the Nazis are kidding themselves and are obviously refusing to acknowledge the truth, even when it slaps them in the face.

There is extensive evidence in Goni's book but also other books, such as Vladimir Dedijer's "Yugoslav Auschwitz", clearly demonstrating that members of the Croatian Ustashi were personally blessed by Pius himself in 1941 and unofficially supported the Ustashi's genocide of Serbs, Jews and Romanies in the Independent State of Croatia. So much for Catholic "morality" and "values".

I strongly recommend this book and the only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because there are a FEW points in the book where it becomes slightly tedious.

Unfocussed and inaccurate, 15 Jul 2008
Books on very specific aspects of the Falklands conflict are few and far between, so I was looking forward to this one - exactly what happened around the Belgrano incident? Unfortunately, this book doesn't really deliver. It spends an inordinate amount of time filling in political background to the conflict, as well as what was going on during its early stages. But most people buying this book will already know this stuff, and they'll know it in far more detail than this book goes into, so why bother? This fluff just bulks out the book, hiding the fact that the author doesn't really have much to add.

This is all dusted with a rather sensationalist style of writing, trying to talk up the technical aspects of submarine warfare without giving much actual detail; it's like reading a tabloid "infobox" at times. It could also do with better proof-reading - the prose flows badly in many places. And the icing on the cake is a number of factual errors when talking about things that the auience of the book will already know about. It throws real doubt on just how accurate the rest of it is. I can't help thinking that if the book had been written by a journalist, instead of a film-maker, we wouldn't got the book we wanted.

Disappointing.

Not detailed enough, 18 May 2008
I was looking forward to some good revelations about the Conqueror's mission; some accounts from the Argentine sailors and their dreadful ordeal, but what I got was a book that spends too much time giving an overview of the war and not nearly enough time on the Conqueror or Belgrano. Disappointing really, and the lack of any substantive accounts from the Belgrano's crew is particularly surprising given some of the in-depth accounts available on the web.

Just like a novel, 10 Jul 2007
Even though the outcome of the story is well known, the author has written a very exciting account of this crucial early episode in the Falklands War. The suspense builds up over the course of the first half of the book and there are also new pieces of information given by the author which are not well so well known in lay circles. Also unlike other books of this type we are not inundated with too many names which can make the plot of this type of book hard to follow. The book also sets out both the long and short terms causes of the war in a concise and interesting way.

The definitive biography of Evita, 21 Dec 2003
EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON is the definitive biography of the woman most famously known as the subject of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. What this book has that all other biographies lack is: research. The authors visited Argentina in the process of their writing, and interviewed dozens of people who knew and worked with Evita.

The other key ingredient to the success of this book is the neutrality of the authors. They don't have anything invested in what the reader thinks of Eva Peron. They do not want to sway the reader in any particular direction. The authors are neither "pro" nor "anti"-Evita. In the preface to the book they make the promise to try to present Eva as a human being, but concede that this is not as simple a task as it sounds. Evita, they claim, is buried beneath more myth and fantasy than any other historical figure of modern times.

Originally published in 1980 as EVA PERON, this re-issue, made to coincide with the release of the movie starring Madonna, contains a new introduction and epilogue in which Nicholas Fraser comments on the odd re-emergence of Evita as a late 20th Century phenomenon. Astonishingly, the re-emergence was predicted by Evita, who said, "I will return and I will be millions," shortly before she died. Though her story is at last a part of history in her homeland, "In the rest of the world," writes the author, "she has attained the condition of apotheosis." Fraser theorizes that the return may have to do with the fact that we live in a celebrity obsessed era where actors are paid more attention than politicians, making Evita - an actress-turned-politician who was accused by her opponents of turning national political life into show business - the perfect minor deity.

I would recommend EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON to anyone interested in a somewhat scholarly rendering of Evita's life, as opposed to sensational pop biography (such as EVA PERON by Alicia Dujovne Ortiz).

Andrew Parodi

A true classic!, 24 Jun 2003
This book is a very informative and touching look at the life of perhaps the most influencial woman of the twentieth century.Like a phoenix from the ashes Eva Peron rose from her childhood of extreme poverty to become the world's leading first lady.This book is account of her life and includes all that you would need to know about Evita,it looks at both sides of the story and based on this makes very truthful and fair decisions on Eva's life, personally and politically.A true classic that Evita herself would be proud of.

A very original book, 31 Jan 2004
I have to admit, when I first saw this book, I HAD to buy it because it covers an area which is generally under-researched in Western literature. It skilly describes the escape route for many Nazis and their non-German collaborators after WW2. It is interesting to note how 100's escaped to Juan Peron's pro-Nazi Argentina, including members of the Belgian Rexist Party, French Vichy Regime and Croatian Ustashi.
It also demonstrates Pope Pius XII's connection to the Nazi escape routes, to a great degree organised by Catholic clergymen, such as Father Krunoslav Draganovic and Father Alois Hudal. Those who constantly claim that the highest elements of the Catholic Church weren't anti-Semitic and didn't support the Nazis are kidding themselves and are obviously refusing to acknowledge the truth, even when it slaps them in the face.

There is extensive evidence in Goni's book but also other books, such as Vladimir Dedijer's "Yugoslav Auschwitz", clearly demonstrating that members of the Croatian Ustashi were personally blessed by Pius himself in 1941 and unofficially supported the Ustashi's genocide of Serbs, Jews and Romanies in the Independent State of Croatia. So much for Catholic "morality" and "values".

I strongly recommend this book and the only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because there are a FEW points in the book where it becomes slightly tedious.

Unfocussed and inaccurate, 15 Jul 2008
Books on very specific aspects of the Falklands conflict are few and far between, so I was looking forward to this one - exactly what happened around the Belgrano incident? Unfortunately, this book doesn't really deliver. It spends an inordinate amount of time filling in political background to the conflict, as well as what was going on during its early stages. But most people buying this book will already know this stuff, and they'll know it in far more detail than this book goes into, so why bother? This fluff just bulks out the book, hiding the fact that the author doesn't really have much to add.

This is all dusted with a rather sensationalist style of writing, trying to talk up the technical aspects of submarine warfare without giving much actual detail; it's like reading a tabloid "infobox" at times. It could also do with better proof-reading - the prose flows badly in many places. And the icing on the cake is a number of factual errors when talking about things that the auience of the book will already know about. It throws real doubt on just how accurate the rest of it is. I can't help thinking that if the book had been written by a journalist, instead of a film-maker, we wouldn't got the book we wanted.

Disappointing.

Not detailed enough, 18 May 2008
I was looking forward to some good revelations about the Conqueror's mission; some accounts from the Argentine sailors and their dreadful ordeal, but what I got was a book that spends too much time giving an overview of the war and not nearly enough time on the Conqueror or Belgrano. Disappointing really, and the lack of any substantive accounts from the Belgrano's crew is particularly surprising given some of the in-depth accounts available on the web.

Just like a novel, 10 Jul 2007
Even though the outcome of the story is well known, the author has written a very exciting account of this crucial early episode in the Falklands War. The suspense builds up over the course of the first half of the book and there are also new pieces of information given by the author which are not well so well known in lay circles. Also unlike other books of this type we are not inundated with too many names which can make the plot of this type of book hard to follow. The book also sets out both the long and short terms causes of the war in a concise and interesting way.

Shockingly good, 08 Sep 2000
This is an almost eidetic rendering of the experience of a normal person living in a country (Argentina) cheerily degenerating into popular sadism. I learned more reading this book than from any other account of political violence.

Does not render ethical greys into the usual monochrome. Just vivid vivid writing.

The definitive biography of Evita, 21 Dec 2003
EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON is the definitive biography of the woman most famously known as the subject of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. What this book has that all other biographies lack is: research. The authors visited Argentina in the process of their writing, and interviewed dozens of people who knew and worked with Evita.

The other key ingredient to the success of this book is the neutrality of the authors. They don't have anything invested in what the reader thinks of Eva Peron. They do not want to sway the reader in any particular direction. The authors are neither "pro" nor "anti"-Evita. In the preface to the book they make the promise to try to present Eva as a human being, but concede that this is not as simple a task as it sounds. Evita, they claim, is buried beneath more myth and fantasy than any other historical figure of modern times.

Originally published in 1980 as EVA PERON, this re-issue, made to coincide with the release of the movie starring Madonna, contains a new introduction and epilogue in which Nicholas Fraser comments on the odd re-emergence of Evita as a late 20th Century phenomenon. Astonishingly, the re-emergence was predicted by Evita, who said, "I will return and I will be millions," shortly before she died. Though her story is at last a part of history in her homeland, "In the rest of the world," writes the author, "she has attained the condition of apotheosis." Fraser theorizes that the return may have to do with the fact that we live in a celebrity obsessed era where actors are paid more attention than politicians, making Evita - an actress-turned-politician who was accused by her opponents of turning national political life into show business - the perfect minor deity.

I would recommend EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON to anyone interested in a somewhat scholarly rendering of Evita's life, as opposed to sensational pop biography (such as EVA PERON by Alicia Dujovne Ortiz).

Andrew Parodi

A true classic!, 24 Jun 2003
This book is a very informative and touching look at the life of perhaps the most influencial woman of the twentieth century.Like a phoenix from the ashes Eva Peron rose from her childhood of extreme poverty to become the world's leading first lady.This book is account of her life and includes all that you would need to know about Evita,it looks at both sides of the story and based on this makes very truthful and fair decisions on Eva's life, personally and politically.A true classic that Evita herself would be proud of.

A very original book, 31 Jan 2004
I have to admit, when I first saw this book, I HAD to buy it because it covers an area which is generally under-researched in Western literature. It skilly describes the escape route for many Nazis and their non-German collaborators after WW2. It is interesting to note how 100's escaped to Juan Peron's pro-Nazi Argentina, including members of the Belgian Rexist Party, French Vichy Regime and Croatian Ustashi.
It also demonstrates Pope Pius XII's connection to the Nazi escape routes, to a great degree organised by Catholic clergymen, such as Father Krunoslav Draganovic and Father Alois Hudal. Those who constantly claim that the highest elements of the Catholic Church weren't anti-Semitic and didn't support the Nazis are kidding themselves and are obviously refusing to acknowledge the truth, even when it slaps them in the face.

There is extensive evidence in Goni's book but also other books, such as Vladimir Dedijer's "Yugoslav Auschwitz", clearly demonstrating that members of the Croatian Ustashi were personally blessed by Pius himself in 1941 and unofficially supported the Ustashi's genocide of Serbs, Jews and Romanies in the Independent State of Croatia. So much for Catholic "morality" and "values".

I strongly recommend this book and the only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because there are a FEW points in the book where it becomes slightly tedious.

Unfocussed and inaccurate, 15 Jul 2008
Books on very specific aspects of the Falklands conflict are few and far between, so I was looking forward to this one - exactly what happened around the Belgrano incident? Unfortunately, this book doesn't really deliver. It spends an inordinate amount of time filling in political background to the conflict, as well as what was going on during its early stages. But most people buying this book will already know this stuff, and they'll know it in far more detail than this book goes into, so why bother? This fluff just bulks out the book, hiding the fact that the author doesn't really have much to add.

This is all dusted with a rather sensationalist style of writing, trying to talk up the technical aspects of submarine warfare without giving much actual detail; it's like reading a tabloid "infobox" at times. It could also do with better proof-reading - the prose flows badly in many places. And the icing on the cake is a number of factual errors when talking about things that the auience of the book will already know about. It throws real doubt on just how accurate the rest of it is. I can't help thinking that if the book had been written by a journalist, instead of a film-maker, we wouldn't got the book we wanted.

Disappointing.

Not detailed enough, 18 May 2008
I was looking forward to some good revelations about the Conqueror's mission; some accounts from the Argentine sailors and their dreadful ordeal, but what I got was a book that spends too much time giving an overview of the war and not nearly enough time on the Conqueror or Belgrano. Disappointing really, and the lack of any substantive accounts from the Belgrano's crew is particularly surprising given some of the in-depth accounts available on the web.

Just like a novel, 10 Jul 2007
Even though the outcome of the story is well known, the author has written a very exciting account of this crucial early episode in the Falklands War. The suspense builds up over the course of the first half of the book and there are also new pieces of information given by the author which are not well so well known in lay circles. Also unlike other books of this type we are not inundated with too many names which can make the plot of this type of book hard to follow. The book also sets out both the long and short terms causes of the war in a concise and interesting way.

Shockingly good, 08 Sep 2000
This is an almost eidetic rendering of the experience of a normal person living in a country (Argentina) cheerily degenerating into popular sadism. I learned more reading this book than from any other account of political violence.

Does not render ethical greys into the usual monochrome. Just vivid vivid writing.

Informative, if not outstanding, 15 Jul 2008
I found this book very informative on Argentina's overall history, and the small sections on each aspect are well written. There is even an attempt to assess the culture, geography, and people of Argentina at the start of the book. However, as a "Definitive" History of Argentina this book is lacking. There is no great in depth study of each era, and readers will need to refer to other works to get the whole picture. Also, the role of the USA in Argentine history, is I feel, somewhat over stated.

As a historian living and working in Argentina, I would recommend this book for those new to the Country's history, or those wanting a basic overview of events. (it is BY FAR better than Felix Luna's "A short history of the Argentinians", in terms of research, historical presentation, historiography, and terminology / grammar!!)

However, for those with a good understanding of Argentina's history, or for those looking for an authoritative English language text of Argentina's history, this book may prove to be slightly underwhelming. (even the page count is only 210 pages long!)

While this is a good addition to the Argentine History bibliography, The definitive English language book of Argentine history has still yet to be written (or translated!)

The definitive biography of Evita, 21 Dec 2003
EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON is the definitive biography of the woman most famously known as the subject of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. What this book has that all other biographies lack is: research. The authors visited Argentina in the process of their writing, and interviewed dozens of people who knew and worked with Evita.

The other key ingredient to the success of this book is the neutrality of the authors. They don't have anything invested in what the reader thinks of Eva Peron. They do not want to sway the reader in any particular direction. The authors are neither "pro" nor "anti"-Evita. In the preface to the book they make the promise to try to present Eva as a human being, but concede that this is not as simple a task as it sounds. Evita, they claim, is buried beneath more myth and fantasy than any other historical figure of modern times.

Originally published in 1980 as EVA PERON, this re-issue, made to coincide with the release of the movie starring Madonna, contains a new introduction and epilogue in which Nicholas Fraser comments on the odd re-emergence of Evita as a late 20th Century phenomenon. Astonishingly, the re-emergence was predicted by Evita, who said, "I will return and I will be millions," shortly before she died. Though her story is at last a part of history in her homeland, "In the rest of the world," writes the author, "she has attained the condition of apotheosis." Fraser theorizes that the return may have to do with the fact that we live in a celebrity obsessed era where actors are paid more attention than politicians, making Evita - an actress-turned-politician who was accused by her opponents of turning national political life into show business - the perfect minor deity.

I would recommend EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON to anyone interested in a somewhat scholarly rendering of Evita's life, as opposed to sensational pop biography (such as EVA PERON by Alicia Dujovne Ortiz).

Andrew Parodi

A true classic!, 24 Jun 2003
This book is a very informative and touching look at the life of perhaps the most influencial woman of the twentieth century.Like a phoenix from the ashes Eva Peron rose from her childhood of extreme poverty to become the world's leading first lady.This book is account of her life and includes all that you would need to know about Evita,it looks at both sides of the story and based on this makes very truthful and fair decisions on Eva's life, personally and politically.A true classic that Evita herself would be proud of.

A very original book, 31 Jan 2004
I have to admit, when I first saw this book, I HAD to buy it because it covers an area which is generally under-researched in Western literature. It skilly describes the escape route for many Nazis and their non-German collaborators after WW2. It is interesting to note how 100's escaped to Juan Peron's pro-Nazi Argentina, including members of the Belgian Rexist Party, French Vichy Regime and Croatian Ustashi.
It also demonstrates Pope Pius XII's connection to the Nazi escape routes, to a great degree organised by Catholic clergymen, such as Father Krunoslav Draganovic and Father Alois Hudal. Those who constantly claim that the highest elements of the Catholic Church weren't anti-Semitic and didn't support the Nazis are kidding themselves and are obviously refusing to acknowledge the truth, even when it slaps them in the face.

There is extensive evidence in Goni's book but also other books, such as Vladimir Dedijer's "Yugoslav Auschwitz", clearly demonstrating that members of the Croatian Ustashi were personally blessed by Pius himself in 1941 and unofficially supported the Ustashi's genocide of Serbs, Jews and Romanies in the Independent State of Croatia. So much for Catholic "morality" and "values".

I strongly recommend this book and the only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because there are a FEW points in the book where it becomes slightly tedious.

Unfocussed and inaccurate, 15 Jul 2008
Books on very specific aspects of the Falklands conflict are few and far between, so I was looking forward to this one - exactly what happened around the Belgrano incident? Unfortunately, this book doesn't really deliver. It spends an inordinate amount of time filling in political background to the conflict, as well as what was going on during its early stages. But most people buying this book will already know this stuff, and they'll know it in far more detail than this book goes into, so why bother? This fluff just bulks out the book, hiding the fact that the author doesn't really have much to add.

This is all dusted with a rather sensationalist style of writing, trying to talk up the technical aspects of submarine warfare without giving much actual detail; it's like reading a tabloid "infobox" at times. It could also do with better proof-reading - the prose flows badly in many places. And the icing on the cake is a number of factual errors when talking about things that the auience of the book will already know about. It throws real doubt on just how accurate the rest of it is. I can't help thinking that if the book had been written by a journalist, instead of a film-maker, we wouldn't got the book we wanted.

Disappointing.

Not detailed enough, 18 May 2008
I was looking forward to some good revelations about the Conqueror's mission; some accounts from the Argentine sailors and their dreadful ordeal, but what I got was a book that spends too much time giving an overview of the war and not nearly enough time on the Conqueror or Belgrano. Disappointing really, and the lack of any substantive accounts from the Belgrano's crew is particularly surprising given some of the in-depth accounts available on the web.

Just like a novel, 10 Jul 2007
Even though the outcome of the story is well known, the author has written a very exciting account of this crucial early episode in the Falklands War. The suspense builds up over the course of the first half of the book and there are also new pieces of information given by the author which are not well so well known in lay circles. Also unlike other books of this type we are not inundated with too many names which can make the plot of this type of book hard to follow. The book also sets out both the long and short terms causes of the war in a concise and interesting way.

Shockingly good, 08 Sep 2000
This is an almost eidetic rendering of the experience of a normal person living in a country (Argentina) cheerily degenerating into popular sadism. I learned more reading this book than from any other account of political violence.

Does not render ethical greys into the usual monochrome. Just vivid vivid writing.

Informative, if not outstanding, 15 Jul 2008
I found this book very informative on Argentina's overall history, and the small sections on each aspect are well written. There is even an attempt to assess the culture, geography, and people of Argentina at the start of the book. However, as a "Definitive" History of Argentina this book is lacking. There is no great in depth study of each era, and readers will need to refer to other works to get the whole picture. Also, the role of the USA in Argentine history, is I feel, somewhat over stated.

As a historian living and working in Argentina, I would recommend this book for those new to the Country's history, or those wanting a basic overview of events. (it is BY FAR better than Felix Luna's "A short history of the Argentinians", in terms of research, historical presentation, historiography, and terminology / grammar!!)

However, for those with a good understanding of Argentina's history, or for those looking for an authoritative English language text of Argentina's history, this book may prove to be slightly underwhelming. (even the page count is only 210 pages long!)

While this is a good addition to the Argentine History bibliography, The definitive English language book of Argentine history has still yet to be written (or translated!)

a powerful and memorable work, 05 Sep 2008
(from my amazon.com review)

I bought this shortly after it first came out in hardback, and it was truly an eye-opening work. I had a student who was a tournament bridge player some years ago--he dismissed the idea out of hand that Reese and Schapiro, who were certainly one of the top bridge partnerships, would ever cheat. He thought the charges were frivilous, the idea ridiculous. So I loaned him my copy of the book. Truscott has been a careful person. The book details at great length individual hands and you'll see photographs of Reese and Schapiro holding their cards in a variety of ways--fingers were used to indicate the number of hearts that they held. When you sometimes have one finger out, sometimes two, sometimes three, sometimes split your fingers (think of Spock on Star Trek), etc, it can look awkward. My student was convinced by the book, but was a sadder person.

The natural reaction is "Reese is a top player. He doesn't have to cheat". That's very true. But it's also true that baseball players such as Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa didn't "have to" cheat: neither do Tour de France racers, nor did other similar figures. But steroids and corked bats (in Sosa's case) and other drugs were used. If you're in, say, the top 10 in your field, the possibility may arise to improve to the top 3, for example. It may also involve ego and not liking to lose. Truscott's book relates how Reese had boasted to friends (and offered to bet on it) that he could cheat at bridge without anyone being able to detect his methods: this sounds like an ego trip, for there was certainly no need for a person of Reese's ability to cheat. Truscott's book describes previous occasions of cheating in bridge, and it relates the disillusionment felt by people who watched Reese and Schapiro at the table exchanging signals. Hands are shown where the bidding and play--such as the opening lead--make no sense at all unless you know much more about your partner's hand than you should. A hearing was held in England--the chair of which knew relatively little about the game, and so would have been blissfully unaware of when bidding or play would have been unusual. Confessions were basically ignored, and Reese and Schapiro were acquitted. But innocent? Read the book.

Bobby Wolff has a fine new book out: "Lone Wolff" which describes cheating and what might politely be termed "ethical lapses". You'll find in this book numerous cases of where when cheating was discovered in a tournament the culprits were let off. One of the most egregious cases was (as I recall) in the Bermuda Bowl where an Italian team of less than stellar bridge gifts but with a series of remarkable performances were caught exchanging information through foot-tapping under the table. The team was reprimanded, but allowed to continue in the tournament. Reese and Schapiro had vastly more natural talent than this Italian team. Schapiro told the British captain that Reese had pressured him into cheating, so we still have the bewildering question of just why Reese would do such a thing. But we have also seen the fabulously wealthy Leona Helmsley and Martha Stewart dig themselves deep holes over what was (for them) trifling sums. So Truscott's book is a wonderful point to the idea of what you want to believe is not always what you need to believe.

addition for UK readers: Dr Grace, the top cricket player at the end of the 19th century, reportedly would occasionally bully umpires and at times resort to some questionable ethics to improve his statistics (he didn't like being put out, and may from time to time have been unGraceful). Sammy Sosa, one of the leading home run hitters, was caught with a corked bat, in which a hole is drilled down the barrel of the bat and plugged with cork. This is illegal in baseball--it adds distance to fly balls--and results in a suspension when detected (which isn't often).

A gripping account of a major scandal, 21 Oct 2007
As a boy I can remember not quite believing accusations levelled at Terence Reese (a hero from his excellent bridge books) and Boris Shapiro and was happy to believe the British exoneration at the time.
50 years later the late Alan Truscott's book presents a rather different picture. Events are described in chronological order and it is like following a detective story or crime investigation. Sadly, the evidence (including photographs) is extremely compelling and there seems no doubt that cheating did take place. Neither Terence Reese nor Boris Shapiro admitted anything in their life time so we will never know why they behaved as they did. Once I had started reading this book I couldn't put it down until I had read the complete text. The events and thoughts of various people involved is told in a compelling manner and the reader is party to the agonising decisions they had to make. Anyone interested in this piece of bridge history will find a gripping tale described in great detail. I thoroughly recommend this book.

The definitive biography of Evita, 21 Dec 2003
EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON is the definitive biography of the woman most famously known as the subject of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. What this book has that all other biographies lack is: research. The authors visited Argentina in the process of their writing, and interviewed dozens of people who knew and worked with Evita.

The other key ingredient to the success of this book is the neutrality of the authors. They don't have anything invested in what the reader thinks of Eva Peron. They do not want to sway the reader in any particular direction. The authors are neither "pro" nor "anti"-Evita. In the preface to the book they make the promise to try to present Eva as a human being, but concede that this is not as simple a task as it sounds. Evita, they claim, is buried beneath more myth and fantasy than any other historical figure of modern times.

Originally published in 1980 as EVA PERON, this re-issue, made to coincide with the release of the movie starring Madonna, contains a new introduction and epilogue in which Nicholas Fraser comments on the odd re-emergence of Evita as a late 20th Century phenomenon. Astonishingly, the re-emergence was predicted by Evita, who said, "I will return and I will be millions," shortly before she died. Though her story is at last a part of history in her homeland, "In the rest of the world," writes the author, "she has attained the condition of apotheosis." Fraser theorizes that the return may have to do with the fact that we live in a celebrity obsessed era where actors are paid more attention than politicians, making Evita - an actress-turned-politician who was accused by her opponents of turning national political life into show business - the perfect minor deity.

I would recommend EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON to anyone interested in a somewhat scholarly rendering of Evita's life, as opposed to sensational pop biography (such as EVA PERON by Alicia Dujovne Ortiz).

Andrew Parodi

A true classic!, 24 Jun 2003
This book is a very informative and touching look at the life of perhaps the most influencial woman of the twentieth century.Like a phoenix from the ashes Eva Peron rose from her childhood of extreme poverty to become the world's leading first lady.This book is account of her life and includes all that you would need to know about Evita,it looks at both sides of the story and based on this makes very truthful and fair decisions on Eva's life, personally and politically.A true classic that Evita herself would be proud of.

A very original book, 31 Jan 2004
I have to admit, when I first saw this book, I HAD to buy it because it covers an area which is generally under-researched in Western literature. It skilly describes the escape route for many Nazis and their non-German collaborators after WW2. It is interesting to note how 100's escaped to Juan Peron's pro-Nazi Argentina, including members of the Belgian Rexist Party, French Vichy Regime and Croatian Ustashi.
It also demonstrates Pope Pius XII's connection to the Nazi escape routes, to a great degree organised by Catholic clergymen, such as Father Krunoslav Draganovic and Father Alois Hudal. Those who constantly claim that the highest elements of the Catholic Church weren't anti-Semitic and didn't support the Nazis are kidding themselves and are obviously refusing to acknowledge the truth, even when it slaps them in the face.

There is extensive evidence in Goni's book but also other books, such as Vladimir Dedijer's "Yugoslav Auschwitz", clearly demonstrating that members of the Croatian Ustashi were personally blessed by Pius himself in 1941 and unofficially supported the Ustashi's genocide of Serbs, Jews and Romanies in the Independent State of Croatia. So much for Catholic "morality" and "values".

I strongly recommend this book and the only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because there are a FEW points in the book where it becomes slightly tedious.

Unfocussed and inaccurate, 15 Jul 2008
Books on very specific aspects of the Falklands conflict are few and far between, so I was looking forward to this one - exactly what happened around the Belgrano incident? Unfortunately, this book doesn't really deliver. It spends an inordinate amount of time filling in political background to the conflict, as well as what was going on during its early stages. But most people buying this book will already know this stuff, and they'll know it in far more detail than this book goes into, so why bother? This fluff just bulks out the book, hiding the fact that the author doesn't really have much to add.

This is all dusted with a rather sensationalist style of writing, trying to talk up the technical aspects of submarine warfare without giving much actual detail; it's like reading a tabloid "infobox" at times. It could also do with better proof-reading - the prose flows badly in many places. And the icing on the cake is a number of factual errors when talking about things that the auience of the book will already know about. It throws real doubt on just how accurate the rest of it is. I can't help thinking that if the book had been written by a journalist, instead of a film-maker, we wouldn't got the book we wanted.

Disappointing.

Not detailed enough, 18 May 2008
I was looking forward to some good revelations about the Conqueror's mission; some accounts from the Argentine sailors and their dreadful ordeal, but what I got was a book that spends too much time giving an overview of the war and not nearly enough time on the Conqueror or Belgrano. Disappointing really, and the lack of any substantive accounts from the Belgrano's crew is particularly surprising given some of the in-depth accounts available on the web.

Just like a novel, 10 Jul 2007
Even though the outcome of the story is well known, the author has written a very exciting account of this crucial early episode in the Falklands War. The suspense builds up over the course of the first half of the book and there are also new pieces of information given by the author which are not well so well known in lay circles. Also unlike other books of this type we are not inundated with too many names which can make the plot of this type of book hard to follow. The book also sets out both the long and short terms causes of the war in a concise and interesting way.

Shockingly good, 08 Sep 2000
This is an almost eidetic rendering of the experience of a normal person living in a country (Argentina) cheerily degenerating into popular sadism. I learned more reading this book than from any other account of political violence.

Does not render ethical greys into the usual monochrome. Just vivid vivid writing.

Informative, if not outstanding, 15 Jul 2008
I found this book very informative on Argentina's overall history, and the small sections on each aspect are well written. There is even an attempt to assess the culture, geography, and people of Argentina at the start of the book. However, as a "Definitive" History of Argentina this book is lacking. There is no great in depth study of each era, and readers will need to refer to other works to get the whole picture. Also, the role of the USA in Argentine history, is I feel, somewhat over stated.

As a historian living and working in Argentina, I would recommend this book for those new to the Country's history, or those wanting a basic overview of events. (it is BY FAR better than Felix Luna's "A short history of the Argentinians", in terms of research, historical presentation, historiography, and terminology / grammar!!)

However, for those with a good understanding of Argentina's history, or for those looking for an authoritative English language text of Argentina's history, this book may prove to be slightly underwhelming. (even the page count is only 210 pages long!)

While this is a good addition to the Argentine History bibliography, The definitive English language book of Argentine history has still yet to be written (or translated!)

a powerful and memorable work, 05 Sep 2008
(from my amazon.com review)

I bought this shortly after it first came out in hardback, and it was truly an eye-opening work. I had a student who was a tournament bridge player some years ago--he dismissed the idea out of hand that Reese and Schapiro, who were certainly one of the top bridge partnerships, would ever cheat. He thought the charges were frivilous, the idea ridiculous. So I loaned him my copy of the book. Truscott has been a careful person. The book details at great length individual hands and you'll see photographs of Reese and Schapiro holding their cards in a variety of ways--fingers were used to indicate the number of hearts that they held. When you sometimes have one finger out, sometimes two, sometimes three, sometimes split your fingers (think of Spock on Star Trek), etc, it can look awkward. My student was convinced by the book, but was a sadder person.

The natural reaction is "Reese is a top player. He doesn't have to cheat". That's very true. But it's also true that baseball players such as Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa didn't "have to" cheat: neither do Tour de France racers, nor did other similar figures. But steroids and corked bats (in Sosa's case) and other drugs were used. If you're in, say, the top 10 in your field, the possibility may arise to improve to the top 3, for example. It may also involve ego and not liking to lose. Truscott's book relates how Reese had boasted to friends (and offered to bet on it) that he could cheat at bridge without anyone being able to detect his methods: this sounds like an ego trip, for there was certainly no need for a person of Reese's ability to cheat. Truscott's book describes previous occasions of cheating in bridge, and it relates the disillusionment felt by people who watched Reese and Schapiro at the table exchanging signals. Hands are shown where the bidding and play--such as the opening lead--make no sense at all unless you know much more about your partner's hand than you should. A hearing was held in England--the chair of which knew relatively little about the game, and so would have been blissfully unaware of when bidding or play would have been unusual. Confessions were basically ignored, and Reese and Schapiro were acquitted. But innocent? Read the book.

Bobby Wolff has a fine new book out: "Lone Wolff" which describes cheating and what might politely be termed "ethical lapses". You'll find in this book numerous cases of where when cheating was discovered in a tournament the culprits were let off. One of the most egregious cases was (as I recall) in the Bermuda Bowl where an Italian team of less than stellar bridge gifts but with a series of remarkable performances were caught exchanging information through foot-tapping under the table. The team was reprimanded, but allowed to continue in the tournament. Reese and Schapiro had vastly more natural talent than this Italian team. Schapiro told the British captain that Reese had pressured him into cheating, so we still have the bewildering question of just why Reese would do such a thing. But we have also seen the fabulously wealthy Leona Helmsley and Martha Stewart dig themselves deep holes over what was (for them) trifling sums. So Truscott's book is a wonderful point to the idea of what you want to believe is not always what you need to believe.

addition for UK readers: Dr Grace, the top cricket player at the end of the 19th century, reportedly would occasionally bully umpires and at times resort to some questionable ethics to improve his statistics (he didn't like being put out, and may from time to time have been unGraceful). Sammy Sosa, one of the leading home run hitters, was caught with a corked bat, in which a hole is drilled down the barrel of the bat and plugged with cork. This is illegal in baseball--it adds distance to fly balls--and results in a suspension when detected (which isn't often).

A gripping account of a major scandal, 21 Oct 2007
As a boy I can remember not quite believing accusations levelled at Terence Reese (a hero from his excellent bridge books) and Boris Shapiro and was happy to believe the British exoneration at the time.
50 years later the late Alan Truscott's book presents a rather different picture. Events are described in chronological order and it is like following a detective story or crime investigation. Sadly, the evidence (including photographs) is extremely compelling and there seems no doubt that cheating did take place. Neither Terence Reese nor Boris Shapiro admitted anything in their life time so we will never know why they behaved as they did. Once I had started reading this book I couldn't put it down until I had read the complete text. The events and thoughts of various people involved is told in a compelling manner and the reader is party to the agonising decisions they had to make. Anyone interested in this piece of bridge history will find a gripping tale described in great detail. I thoroughly recommend this book.

Exellent for written content and beautiful photography., 01 Nov 2000
This book, written by several authors, allows each author to write about their specialist historical period in the history of tango. The text is enhanced by beautiful photographs and picture reproductions. This is a useful book for a complete history of tango and its personalities, as well as interesting quotations on tango throughout.

The definitive biography of Evita, 21 Dec 2003
EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON is the definitive biography of the woman most famously known as the subject of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. What this book has that all other biographies lack is: research. The authors visited Argentina in the process of their writing, and interviewed dozens of people who knew and worked with Evita.

The other key ingredient to the success of this book is the neutrality of the authors. They don't have anything invested in what the reader thinks of Eva Peron. They do not want to sway the reader in any particular direction. The authors are neither "pro" nor "anti"-Evita. In the preface to the book they make the promise to try to present Eva as a human being, but concede that this is not as simple a task as it sounds. Evita, they claim, is buried beneath more myth and fantasy than any other historical figure of modern times.

Originally published in 1980 as EVA PERON, this re-issue, made to coincide with the release of the movie starring Madonna, contains a new introduction and epilogue in which Nicholas Fraser comments on the odd re-emergence of Evita as a late 20th Century phenomenon. Astonishingly, the re-emergence was predicted by Evita, who said, "I will return and I will be millions," shortly before she died. Though her story is at last a part of history in her homeland, "In the rest of the world," writes the author, "she has attained the condition of apotheosis." Fraser theorizes that the return may have to do with the fact that we live in a celebrity obsessed era where actors are paid more attention than politicians, making Evita - an actress-turned-politician who was accused by her opponents of turning national political life into show business - the perfect minor deity.

I would recommend EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON to anyone interested in a somewhat scholarly rendering of Evita's life, as opposed to sensational pop biography (such as EVA PERON by Alicia Dujovne Ortiz).

Andrew Parodi

A true classic!, 24 Jun 2003
This book is a very informative and touching look at the life of perhaps the most influencial woman of the twentieth century.Like a phoenix from the ashes Eva Peron rose from her childhood of extreme poverty to become the world's leading first lady.This book is account of her life and includes all that you would need to know about Evita,it looks at both sides of the story and based on this makes very truthful and fair decisions on Eva's life, personally and politically.A true classic that Evita herself would be proud of.

A very original book, 31 Jan 2004
I have to admit, when I first saw this book, I HAD to buy it because it covers an area which is generally under-researched in Western literature. It skilly describes the escape route for many Nazis and their non-German collaborators after WW2. It is interesting to note how 100's escaped to Juan Peron's pro-Nazi Argentina, including members of the Belgian Rexist Party, French Vichy Regime and Croatian Ustashi.
It also demonstrates Pope Pius XII's connection to the Nazi escape routes, to a great degree organised by Catholic clergymen, such as Father Krunoslav Draganovic and Father Alois Hudal. Those who constantly claim that the highest elements of the Catholic Church weren't anti-Semitic and didn't support the Nazis are kidding themselves and are obviously refusing to acknowledge the truth, even when it slaps them in the face.

There is extensive evidence in Goni's book but also other books, such as Vladimir Dedijer's "Yugoslav Auschwitz", clearly demonstrating that members of the Croatian Ustashi were personally blessed by Pius himself in 1941 and unofficially supported the Ustashi's genocide of Serbs, Jews and Romanies in the Independent State of Croatia. So much for Catholic "morality" and "values".

I strongly recommend this book and the only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because there are a FEW points in the book where it becomes slightly tedious.

Unfocussed and inaccurate, 15 Jul 2008
Books on very specific aspects of the Falklands conflict are few and far between, so I was looking forward to this one - exactly what happened around the Belgrano incident? Unfortunately, this book doesn't really deliver. It spends an inordinate amount of time filling in political background to the conflict, as well as what was going on during its early stages. But most people buying this book will already know this stuff, and they'll know it in far more detail than this book goes into, so why bother? This fluff just bulks out the book, hiding the fact that the author doesn't really have much to add.

This is all dusted with a rather sensationalist style of writing, trying to talk up the technical aspects of submarine warfare without giving much actual detail; it's like reading a tabloid "infobox" at times. It could also do with better proof-reading - the prose flows badly in many places. And the icing on the cake is a number of factual errors when talking about things that the auience of the book will already know about. It throws real doubt on just how accurate the rest of it is. I can't help thinking that if the book had been written by a journalist, instead of a film-maker, we wouldn't got the book we wanted.

Disappointing.

Not detailed enough, 18 May 2008
I was looking forward to some good revelations about the Conqueror's mission; some accounts from the Argentine sailors and their dreadful ordeal, but what I got was a book that spends too much time giving an overview of the war and not nearly enough time on the Conqueror or Belgrano. Disappointing really, and the lack of any substantive accounts from the Belgrano's crew is particularly surprising given some of the in-depth accounts available on the web.

Just like a novel, 10 Jul 2007
Even though the outcome of the story is well known, the author has written a very exciting account of this crucial early episode in the Falklands War. The suspense builds up over the course of the first half of the book and there are also new pieces of information given by the author which are not well so well known in lay circles. Also unlike other books of this type we are not inundated with too many names which can make the plot of this type of book hard to follow. The book also sets out both the long and short terms causes of the war in a concise and interesting way.

Shockingly good, 08 Sep 2000
This is an almost eidetic rendering of the experience of a normal person living in a country (Argentina) cheerily degenerating into popular sadism. I learned more reading this book than from any other account of political violence.

Does not render ethical greys into the usual monochrome. Just vivid vivid writing.

Informative, if not outstanding, 15 Jul 2008
I found this book very informative on Argentina's overall history, and the small sections on each aspect are well written. There is even an attempt to assess the culture, geography, and people of Argentina at the start of the book. However, as a "Definitive" History of Argentina this book is lacking. There is no great in depth study of each era, and readers will need to refer to other works to get the whole picture. Also, the role of the USA in Argentine history, is I feel, somewhat over stated.

As a historian living and working in Argentina, I would recommend this book for those new to the Country's history, or those wanting a basic overview of events. (it is BY FAR better than Felix Luna's "A short history of the Argentinians", in terms of research, historical presentation, historiography, and terminology / grammar!!)

However, for those with a good understanding of Argentina's history, or for those looking for an authoritative English language text of Argentina's history, this book may prove to be slightly underwhelming. (even the page count is only 210 pages long!)

While this is a good addition to the Argentine History bibliography, The definitive English language book of Argentine history has still yet to be written (or translated!)

a powerful and memorable work, 05 Sep 2008
(from my amazon.com review)

I bought this shortly after it first came out in hardback, and it was truly an eye-opening work. I had a student who was a tournament bridge player some years ago--he dismissed the idea out of hand that Reese and Schapiro, who were certainly one of the top bridge partnerships, would ever cheat. He thought the charges were frivilous, the idea ridiculous. So I loaned him my copy of the book. Truscott has been a careful person. The book details at great length individual hands and you'll see photographs of Reese and Schapiro holding their cards in a variety of ways--fingers were used to indicate the number of hearts that they held. When you sometimes have one finger out, sometimes two, sometimes three, sometimes split your fingers (think of Spock on Star Trek), etc, it can look awkward. My student was convinced by the book, but was a sadder person.

The natural reaction is "Reese is a top player. He doesn't have to cheat". That's very true. But it's also true that baseball players such as Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa didn't "have to" cheat: neither do Tour de France racers, nor did other similar figures. But steroids and corked bats (in Sosa's case) and other drugs were used. If you're in, say, the top 10 in your field, the possibility may arise to improve to the top 3, for example. It may also involve ego and not liking to lose. Truscott's book relates how Reese had boasted to friends (and offered to bet on it) that he could cheat at bridge without anyone being able to detect his methods: this sounds like an ego trip, for there was certainly no need for a person of Reese's ability to cheat. Truscott's book describes previous occasions of cheating in bridge, and it relates the disillusionment felt by people who watched Reese and Schapiro at the table exchanging signals. Hands are shown where the bidding and play--such as the opening lead--make no sense at all unless you know much more about your partner's hand than you should. A hearing was held in England--the chair of which knew relatively little about the game, and so would have been blissfully unaware of when bidding or play would have been unusual. Confessions were basically ignored, and Reese and Schapiro were acquitted. But innocent? Read the book.

Bobby Wolff has a fine new book out: "Lone Wolff" which describes cheating and what might politely be termed "ethical lapses". You'll find in this book numerous cases of where when cheating was discovered in a tournament the culprits were let off. One of the most egregious cases was (as I recall) in the Bermuda Bowl where an Italian team of less than stellar bridge gifts but with a series of remarkable performances were caught exchanging information through foot-tapping under the table. The team was reprimanded, but allowed to continue in the tournament. Reese and Schapiro had vastly more natural talent than this Italian team. Schapiro told the British captain that Reese had pressured him into cheating, so we still have the bewildering question of just why Reese would do such a thing. But we have also seen the fabulously wealthy Leona Helmsley and Martha Stewart dig themselves deep holes over what was (for them) trifling sums. So Truscott's book is a wonderful point to the idea of what you want to believe is not always what you need to believe.

addition for UK readers: Dr Grace, the top cricket player at the end of the 19th century, reportedly would occasionally bully umpires and at times resort to some questionable ethics to improve his statistics (he didn't like being put out, and may from time to time have been unGraceful). Sammy Sosa, one of the leading home run hitters, was caught with a corked bat, in which a hole is drilled down the barrel of the bat and plugged with cork. This is illegal in baseball--it adds distance to fly balls--and results in a suspension when detected (which isn't often).

A gripping account of a major scandal, 21 Oct 2007
As a boy I can remember not quite believing accusations levelled at Terence Reese (a hero from his excellent bridge books) and Boris Shapiro and was happy to believe the British exoneration at the time.
50 years later the late Alan Truscott's book presents a rather different picture. Events are described in chronological order and it is like following a detective story or crime investigation. Sadly, the evidence (including photographs) is extremely compelling and there seems no doubt that cheating did take place. Neither Terence Reese nor Boris Shapiro admitted anything in their life time so we will never know why they behaved as they did. Once I had started reading this book I couldn't put it down until I had read the complete text. The events and thoughts of various people involved is told in a compelling manner and the reader is party to the agonising decisions they had to make. Anyone interested in this piece of bridge history will find a gripping tale described in great detail. I thoroughly recommend this book.

Exellent for written content and beautiful photography., 01 Nov 2000
This book, written by several authors, allows each author to write about their specialist historical period in the history of tango. The text is enhanced by beautiful photographs and picture reproductions. This is a useful book for a complete history of tango and its personalities, as well as interesting quotations on tango throughout.

falklands military machine, 23 Feb 2005
very good book covering this subject very well
much information on unsung units involved
if you buy one book on this subject buy this

The definitive biography of Evita, 21 Dec 2003
EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON is the definitive biography of the woman most famously known as the subject of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. What this book has that all other biographies lack is: research. The authors visited Argentina in the process of their writing, and interviewed dozens of people who knew and worked with Evita.

The other key ingredient to the success of this book is the neutrality of the authors. They don't have anything invested in what the reader thinks of Eva Peron. They do not want to sway the reader in any particular direction. The authors are neither "pro" nor "anti"-Evita. In the preface to the book they make the promise to try to present Eva as a human being, but concede that this is not as simple a task as it sounds. Evita, they claim, is buried beneath more myth and fantasy than any other historical figure of modern times.

Originally published in 1980 as EVA PERON, this re-issue, made to coincide with the release of the movie starring Madonna, contains a new introduction and epilogue in which Nicholas Fraser comments on the odd re-emergence of Evita as a late 20th Century phenomenon. Astonishingly, the re-emergence was predicted by Evita, who said, "I will return and I will be millions," shortly before she died. Though her story is at last a part of history in her homeland, "In the rest of the world," writes the author, "she has attained the condition of apotheosis." Fraser theorizes that the return may have to do with the fact that we live in a celebrity obsessed era where actors are paid more attention than politicians, making Evita - an actress-turned-politician who was accused by her opponents of turning national political life into show business - the perfect minor deity.

I would recommend EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON to anyone interested in a somewhat scholarly rendering of Evita's life, as opposed to sensational pop biography (such as EVA PERON by Alicia Dujovne Ortiz).

Andrew Parodi

A true classic!, 24 Jun 2003
This book is a very informative and touching look at the life of perhaps the most influencial woman of the twentieth century.Like a phoenix from the ashes Eva Peron rose from her childhood of extreme poverty to become the world's leading first lady.This book is account of her life and includes all that you would need to know about Evita,it looks at both sides of the story and based on this makes very truthful and fair decisions on Eva's life, personally and politically.A true classic that Evita herself would be proud of.

A very original book, 31 Jan 2004
I have to admit, when I first saw this book, I HAD to buy it because it covers an area which is generally under-researched in Western literature. It skilly describes the escape route for many Nazis and their non-German collaborators after WW2. It is interesting to note how 100's escaped to Juan Peron's pro-Nazi Argentina, including members of the Belgian Rexist Party, French Vichy Regime and Croatian Ustashi.
It also demonstrates Pope Pius XII's connection to the Nazi escape routes, to a great degree organised by Catholic clergymen, such as Father Krunoslav Draganovic and Father Alois Hudal. Those who constantly claim that the highest elements of the Catholic Church weren't anti-Semitic and didn't support the Nazis are kidding themselves and are obviously refusing to acknowledge the truth, even when it slaps them in the face.

There is extensive evidence in Goni's book but also other books, such as Vladimir Dedijer's "Yugoslav Auschwitz", clearly demonstrating that members of the Croatian Ustashi were personally blessed by Pius himself in 1941 and unofficially supported the Ustashi's genocide of Serbs, Jews and Romanies in the Independent State of Croatia. So much for Catholic "morality" and "values".

I strongly recommend this book and the only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because there are a FEW points in the book where it becomes slightly tedious.

Unfocussed and inaccurate, 15 Jul 2008
Books on very specific aspects of the Falklands conflict are few and far between, so I was looking forward to this one - exactly what happened around the Belgrano incident? Unfortunately, this book doesn't really deliver. It spends an inordinate amount of time filling in political background to the conflict, as well as what was going on during its early stages. But most people buying this book will already know this stuff, and they'll know it in far more detail than this book goes into, so why bother? This fluff just bulks out the book, hiding the fact that the author doesn't really have much to add.

This is all dusted with a rather sensationalist style of writing, trying to talk up the technical aspects of submarine warfare without giving much actual detail; it's like reading a tabloid "infobox" at times. It could also do with better proof-reading - the prose flows badly in many places. And the icing on the cake is a number of factual errors when talking about things that the auience of the book will already know about. It throws real doubt on just how accurate the rest of it is. I can't help thinking that if the book had been written by a journalist, instead of a film-maker, we wouldn't got the book we wanted.

Disappointing.

Not detailed enough, 18 May 2008
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