New Books In Communications

Donna Guy’s 2016 book Creating Charismatic Bonds in Argentina: Letters to Juan and Eva Perón (University of New Mexico Press) is a history of Peronist populism that puts everyday people at the center of her exploration. Using letters written by Argentine citizens to the Perón couple between 1946 and 1955, Guy offers a nuanced approach to understand charisma, that ineffable quality said to bind popular actors to leadership. She shows that the bonds between popular groups and the Perón couple did more than turn out voters to elections. Ordinary Argentines, at the request of Juan Perón, shaped policies by making suggestions for Five-Year Plans, communicating their visions of national uplift directly to the president. Many letters discussed in her work come from impoverished Argentines living in the countryside or recent migrants to Buenos Aires, groups more marginalized than the members of organized labor and other sectors known for their Peronist loyalty. Guy makes clear that the charisma of Juan Perón is inext