Argentina

Creating Charismatic Bonds in Argentina: Letters to Juan and Eva Perón . By Donna J. Guy . Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press , 2016. Pp. 184. $95.00 cloth; $29.95 paper.

This look at the letters of Juan and Eva Perón shows us how the charismatic connections between Juan and Eva Perón and the Argentine people were supported through letters written to the presidential couple. Basing her analysis on hundreds of newly discovered letters written during Juan Perón's first presidency (1946-1955), Guy argues that such correspondence helped reinforce charismatic bonds between the presidential couple and poor Argentines, as well as install in the latter a sense of nationalism. Although these bonds are often understood as originating from Juan and Eva in a top-down fashion, Guy seeks to demonstrate how letter-writing helped reinforce charismatic connections from the bottom up. Through extensive citations from correspondence, she illustrates how letter writers contributed to these bonds through their devotion to Juan and Eva, and how they articulated a sense of nationalist unity.

Each chapter includes multiple...