The Woman with the Whip is a 1952 biography of political leader Eva Perón

Eva Perón

María Eva Duarte de Perón was the second wife of President Juan Perón and served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She is often referred to as simply Eva Perón, or by the affectionate Spanish language diminutive Evita.She was born in the village of Los Toldos in...

, the late First Lady

First Lady

First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...

 and Spiritual Leader of the Nation of Argentina

Spiritual Leader of the Nation of Argentina

Spiritual Leader of the Nation was a position created by the Argentine Congress in the early 1950s and only ever held by Eva Perón . Eva Perón was elected Spiritual Leader/Chief of the Nation on May 7, 1952 and died on July 26 of that year...

. Published in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 shortly after Eva Perón's death, it was the first hostile biography of Eva Perón to be published and it has therefore been used by her detractors ever since. This book is thought to be the basis for the Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

 musical Evita. However, the book was never officially credited as such, and Webber officially incorporated many other historical materials as background.

This book was not initially published in Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, because Juan Perón

Juan Perón

Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...

, Eva Perón's husband and the President of Argentina, was still in power at the time of publication. Additionally, the author, Mary Main, used the pseudonym "María Flores" in the initial publication. Only after the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical came to fame in the 1970s was the book published with Mary Main's real name on the cover. Since that time, the book has been known by the title, Evita: The Woman with the Whip.

Mary Main was an Anglo-Argentine who spent her childhood in Argentina but most of her adulthood in England. When, during adulthood, she returned to Argentina, Main was horrified to find the Peróns in power. This motivated her to write The Woman with the Whip.