Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: January 13, 2021 at 4:29:45 PM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Nationalism]: Sharnak on Harmer, 'Beatriz Allende: > A Revolutionary Life in Cold War Latin America' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Tanya Harmer. Beatriz Allende: A Revolutionary Life in Cold War > Latin America. Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press, > 2020. 384 pp. $34.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-4696-5429-4. > > Reviewed by Debbie Sharnak (Rowan University) > Published on H-Nationalism (January, 2021) > Commissioned by Evan C. Rothera > > On October 13, 1977, the New York Times published a brief column > titled "A Daughter of Allende Is a Suicide in Havana," which reported > the death of Salvador Allende's daughter, Beatriz. The dispatch, > located on the paper's twenty-fourth page, was short on detail about > her life and noted that "Miss Allende was about 40 years old."[1] In > fact, Beatriz Allende was thirty-five years old. > > Both this inaccuracy and the _Times_'s relegation of its report on > her death to its back pages exemplify two examples of Beatriz's > marginalization, which Tanya Harmer aims to correct in her impressive > new biography, _Beatriz Allende: A Revolutionary Life in Cold War > Latin America. _For Harmer, Beatriz constitutes a vehicle to explore > women's roles in Latin America's Cold War between the 1950s and the > late 1970s. (Throughout the book, Harmer refers to her subject by > first name to avoid confusion with her father, who was the president > of Chile from 1970 to 1973.) As Harmer notes, Beatriz, like many > women of her time and place, are overlooked in histories of Chile and > Latin America generally, a reflection of "historians' predilection to > focus on male leaders of political parties and their institutional > histories" (p. 264). In tracing Beatriz's life and her involvement > with key domestic and international events, Harmer moves beyond > studying just state-to-state relations or prominent male figures to > examine how Cold War Latin America affected everyday people. In this, > Harmer shows how women were protagonists and important historical > actors in their own right. > > Harmer reconstructs Beatriz's life using an impressive array of oral > histories with Beatriz's closest friends, fellow militants, lovers, > and family members, in addition to personal correspondence, memoirs, > newspapers, and archives in seven countries. The book is > chronologically organized into ten chapters, which span from her > political awakening as a teenager to her untimely death as an exile. > Harmer examines Beatriz's family life during Allende's political > prominence, her education, and her impact on and importance of youth > politics. She covers Beatriz's challenges navigating her commitment > to the global revolutionary fervor of the long 1960s after the > success of the Cuban Revolution and her fierce loyalty to her father > and his own electoral road to the presidency. The book also probes > Beatriz's formal role as a private secretary in his administration, > as well as her informal position as a bridge between Allende and the > Movement of the Revolutionary Left (Movimiento de Izquierda > Revolucionaria [MIR]), a far-left group in Chile, as well as other > revolutionary groups in the region. Finally, Harmer traces Beatriz's > post-coup exile to Cuba and her role as global solidarity organizer > against Augusto Pinochet's regime until her suicide in 1977. > > In addition to refocusing the historical lens on people who typically > have been sidelined, _Beatriz Allende_ has several other > historiographical contributions. First, Harmer expands the chronology > of Chile's revolutionary moment and its violent end. Beyond looking > at national chronologies and divisions by presidential > administrations, Harmer takes into account major domestic and > international influences, tracing a longer history of mobilization > and ideas about the struggle between different versions of modernity > that extended beyond the US-Soviet Cold War frame and that were > integral parts of a longer part of Chilean and transnational > historical influences. Harmer's book also spotlights the role of > young people in politics and society as a heterogeneous set of voices > that mobilized at unprecedented levels for a variety of causes, > challenged the status quo, and contributed in substantive ways to the > debates and questions of the era. Finally, Beatriz's life provides a > window into the histories of Chile's lefts and the porous > relationship in which many people floated and intersected with > various ideologies and movements. Beyond a history of the parties, > Harmer exemplifies how Beatriz's own navigation between groups' > evolving strategies and ideologies offers a window into the > interconnected, entangled, and also fragmented ways everyday people > collaborated, struggled, and divided in the lead-up to Allende's > presidency, his actual time in office, and the subsequent period of > repression and oftentimes exile. > > As suggested by Harmer's variety of sources, this book is rich in > detail. Harmer's use of personal correspondence and extensive > interviews enabled her to illuminate connections between politics, > shifting love affairs and friendships, and intra-party struggles of > the revolutionary fervor in this period. These detailed narratives > propel the book forward. Perhaps no example better illustrates this > as well as Harmer's reconstruction of Pinochet's coup from Beatriz's > perspective. Harmer lays out the preparation and foreboding of the > coup's imminence and relays how Beatriz, then seven months pregnant, > fled to the palace upon hearing of the military's advancement, her > unsuccessful plea to her father to remain at La Moneda, and the > frantic negotiations of her eventual exit from the country with her > daughter and Cuban husband. Once in exile, Beatriz confronted the > tragedy of a failed revolutionary project, which she had devoted her > life to, and her beloved father's death. This detailed story is a > testament to Harmer's research, as well as a window into the > reverberations of the coup's effects on all of those involved in > Allende's revolutionary project. > > Harmer uses Beatriz's experiences in exile to spotlight the tension > of the post-Allende period and challenges of solidarity activism > abroad. This is particularly true from a human rights perspective. > From her perch in Cuba, as well as travels around Latin America, the > US, and Western Europe to garner support for her cause, for Beatriz, > human rights was far from Samuel Moyn's idea of a replacement of lost > ideals or a "last utopia." Instead, she remained committed to her > revolutionary principles, and human rights were "merely one way > Beatriz conceived of fighting for the utopian revolutionary future > she had set her sights on almost two decades before and still upheld" > (p. 248). Indeed, rather than extol the hope and promise of human > rights, four years into exile, Beatriz grew increasingly pessimistic > about her own revolutionary hope and the possibility of human rights > activism to dislodge the military junta. Beatriz, instead, felt > impotent against the consolidated Pinochet rule that was compounded > by her own personal turmoil of being unable to escape her own > identity as Allende's daughter and as a woman with certain familial > responsibilities. It is this combination that Harmer so poignantly > conjectures led to Beatriz's eventual suicide. > > Ultimately, _Beatriz Allende _is an important and fascinating read. > It reconstructs the extraordinary life of a woman in the context of > significant domestic and international changes of the era. In this > way, Harmer perhaps makes a case for Beatriz to be a prime candidate > for the _New York Times_ project, Overlooked, which is a series of > obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths went largely > unreported in the_ Times_.[2] In a new iteration, the paper might get > her age right as well as shine a light on a woman who offered a deep > contribution to an extremely tumultuous and transformative period of > Chilean and international history. > > Notes > > [1]. "A Daughter of Allende Is a Suicide in Havana," _New York > Times_, October 13, 1977, 24. > > [2]. "Overlooked," _New York Times_, > https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/overlooked. > > Citation: Debbie Sharnak. Review of Harmer, Tanya, _Beatriz Allende: > A Revolutionary Life in Cold War Latin America_. H-Nationalism, H-Net > Reviews. January, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55616 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#5518): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/5518 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/79662320/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
