On a Night of a Thousand Stars: The Tragic History behind Argentina’s Dirty War

Analyzing Andrea Yaryura Clark's On the Night of a Thousand Stars, this book review essay places the novel taking place during Argentina's Dirty War and examines its quality for teaching readers about the military junta that ruled the country in the late 1970s and 80s. By examining historical events and how they affect each character in the novel, the author evaluates and compares each with how they are portrayed in history. In addition to these evaluations, the author also reflects on his own experience in learning about Argentina's Dirty War for the first time in a Latin American History course and his own experiences with learning about the desaparecidos, or the missing -- and how he connected with Clark's novel. The author finds that On the Night of a Thousand Stars does a wonderful job on representing multiple stories from the Dirty War and is an effective source for teaching about Argentina's history in the later 20th century.