76

1976 marked a turning point in recent Argentine history. A year indelibly marked by a civic-military coup that unleashed its darkest night: the national state transformed into the executioner of its own people. With his lucid perspective, and drawing—among other testimonies and sources—on recently declassified documents and archives, Felipe Pigna analyzes in 76 the most important events of this first year of the military dictatorship. Undoubtedly, and crucially, was the implementation of an impoverishing economic plan that could not be carried out without fierce, centralized, and systematic repression. A death machine that had been brewing long before the coup, activated by a segment of civil society in collusion with the Armed Forces. But also—and this is what makes 76 such an essential book—this meticulous work sheds light on what was simmering in the shadows: the resistance of culture, the labor movement, student organizations, and human rights groups. Close to the idea of ​​“understanding” rather than “justifying”, Felipe Pigna keeps alive, in his new book, the memory of those who, despite everything, knew –and know– that there is always a tomorrow.