Within Argentina, Juan Domingo Perón continues to be the subject of exaggerated and diametrically opposed views. A dictator, a great leader, the hero of the working classes and Argentina's "first worker"; a weak and spineless man dependent on his strongerwilled wife; a Latin American visionary; a traitor, responsible for dragging Argentina into a modern, socially just 20th century society or, conversely, destroying for all time a prosperous nation and fomenting class war and unreasonable aspirations among his client base. Outside Argentina, Perón remains overshadowed by his second wife, Evita. The life of this fascinating and unusual man, whose charisma, political influence and controversial nature continue to generate interest, remains somewhat of a mystery to the rest of the world. Perón remains a key figure in Argentine politics, still able to occupy so much of the political spectrum as to constrain the development of viable alternatives. Jill Hedges explores the life and personality of Perón and asks why he remains a political icon despite the 'negatives' associated with his extreme personalism. Jill Hedges has written a companion volume to her biography of Eva Perón. Juan Perón: The Life of the People's Colonel tackles no less a controversial figure. Perón, often seen as the ur Latin American populist, is for some a radical reformer, a promoter of social justice, for others a profligate dictator, and admirer of Mussolini. This biography treads a careful but critical path through the evidence, and shows Perón to be above all a political chameolon, a pragmatist with a mixed record of achievement. Highly readable and carefully researched, this is a welcome contribution to the understanding of Argentina's turbulent history.