An unfinished song: The life of Victor Jara

by Joan Jara

Book Overview

The life and times of Chilean folksinger Victor Jara, murdered in 1973 by the military after having worked to bring Salvador Allende into power and democracy to his country. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0899192793
• ISBN13: 9780899192796
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Ticknor & Fields
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

This book should be more easily available!!

This is an incredible book about Victor Jara, the musician and activist in the Chilean struggle against fascism and imperialism, and his brutal murder by Pinochet and his forces. It is also a book about the people of Chile, and chronicles carefully their poverty as well as their amazing spirit. To the non-Chilean reader it provides an important account of the workings of imperialism. Joan Jara's book MUST be read as widely as possible. Why is it not available more easily in North America?! It is a very important book because of its relevance to modern day imperialism.

WHY IS THIS OUT OF PRINT?

It should be compulsory reading at US schools, perhaps enriched with some documents from the recently declassified CIA files. By the way, a new paperback edition is available in the UK, along with translations in various other countries ...

The best book on Chile's Victor Jara.

Joan Jara, wife of the late Victor Jara, does a masterful job of describing the military overthrow of 1973 in Chile and of the relationship of Victor Jara's life and subsequent torture murder by that same military. No other reference is as thorough or as exact. Further, the book is good reading. Siempre La Nueva Cancion Chilena!!! Eric J. Lindblom, M.A., San Diego, California

A must read. It inspired a recent visit to Jara's grave.

This is a well-written book which moved my partner and I to prioritize visiting Victor Jara's gave in the Cemetario General, Santiago, during our recent visit to Chile - our first. Victor Jara's wife, Joan Turner, tells the story of his powerful life as no one else could. Popularism and the events swirling around the Chilean countryside and Santiago during late 1960's/early 1970's, are ones which deserve a much broader awareness. The September 1973 coup d'etat and it's aftermath represent a black period in human history, in large part because the world lost a truly wonderful troubador and humanitarian. The roled played by the U.S. government should be better recognized and Americans, in particular, should be more aware of this man's life.

Victor's finished song.

Victor Jara was at the forefront of the cultural revolution in Chile in the 1960's and 1970's. His life is well documented. This account of his life is interesting because it is told from the point of view of someone who was closest to him during these years, his wife Joan. The book takes you through the rollercoaster years - from struggling musician, to Cultural Ambassador in the Allende Government to his brutal and needless death following Pinochet's overthrow of Allende in 1973. The imitacy of the book brings you closer to Victor Jara in a way no other book can. Joan's passion for her husband and his work shines through what is one of the most honest and heartrendering accounts I have ever read. However, it does more, it envokes a real sense of loss. Victor Jara's death was a tragedy for Joan and their family. The reader shares in this grief and is pulled into the book. For anyone with an interest in South America, this book is a must. It provides a comprehensive history of the turbulent years of Chilean history from a human perspective. Joan Jara has ensured her husband did not die in vain by commiting his memory to this touching and warm biograph