In 1987, a document that appeared to be the long-lost deathbed manuscript of Eva Perón was found in a government archive in Buenos Aires. Rumor had it that the manuscript, which is critical of the Argentine church and military, had been suppressed for thirty years after Evita’s death by her husband, Argentine President Juan Perón.

First published in the United States by The New Press in 1996, the book remains a fascinating historical document and memoir at a time when Argentina is back in the headlines and trials of leading officials from the Perón era are underway. Leading Perón scholars disagree about whether Evita wrote every word herself, and Evita: In My Own Words includes an extensive introduction by Perón scholar Joseph A. Page, who weighs all the claims and counterclaims about the document’s authenticity and provides an essential historical framework for Eva Perón’s life.

Evita offers a firsthand glimpse of the woman who left an indelible if controversial mark on Argentina, and, at the time of her death at age thirty-three, was considered one of the most powerful women in the world.