Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life [Paperback]

Jon Lee Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 1997

This New York Times “Notable Book of the Year” is the definitive biography on Che Guevara, whose epic dream was to end poverty and injustice in Latin America through armed revolution. Anderson’s biography traces Che’s extraordinary life, from his comfortable Argentine upbringing to the Cuban revolution, from the halls of power in Castro’s government to his failed campaign in the Congo and assassination in the Bolivian jungle.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Even to those without Marxist sympathies, Che Guevara (1928-67) was a dashing, charismatic figure: the asthmatic son of an aristocratic Argentine family whose sympathy for the world's oppressed turned him into a socialist revolutionary, the valued comrade-in-arms of Cuba's Fidel Castro and a leader of guerilla warfare in Latin America and Africa. Journalist Jon Lee Anderson's lengthy and absorbing portrait captures the complexities of international politics (revolutionary and counter); his painstaking research has unearthed a remarkable amount of new material, including information about Guevara's death at the hands of the Bolivian military. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The incredible life of the Cuban revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara is documented in this thorough, compulsively engaging 1997 biography and inspiration for Steven Soderbergh's 2008 biopic. Beginning with Che's childhood in Argentina, Andersen covers every possible aspect of his subject's life—from Che's first encounter with Fidel and Raul Castro in Mexico City through the Cuban revolution to his failed attempt at reform in the African Congo—leaving no event, personal or political, unanalyzed. Armando Duran gives a brilliant performance that captures Che in all his contradictions. Duran displays his inherent acting ability in this reading that does full justice to the prose and never fails to captivate despite the near 37-hour length. A Grove Press hardcover. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 814 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (March 9, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802135587
• ISBN-13: 978-0802135582
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1.8 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (194 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #196,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( G ) > Guevara, Che

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

169 of 193 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An Important, but Rambling, Political Bio September 8, 2002

By doomsdayer520 HALL OF FAME

Format:Paperback

With a figure this inspirational and controversial, it's amazing that no authoritative biography appeared on Che Guevara until Anderson completed this one three decades after his death. Anderson has really delivered an impressive and strongly researched bio into this interesting character. We learn that Che had a comfortable middle-class upbringing in Argentina and even earned a medical degree, but ended up fighting for the world's downtrodden. He also had severe asthma but still managed to become a rugged jungle revolutionary. After traveling around Latin America he ended up in Cuba as Castro's right-hand man during the revolution. This episode in Che's career contributes to the main problem of this book however. More than half of the book is dedicated to the years just before and after Castro's seizure of power in 1959. Che certainly had a large part to play here, but his life story is lost in Anderson's coverage of Cuban events and politics during those years. Thus for a while the book is no longer a biography but a political history that is only somewhat related to the main subject. Apparently in his research on Che, Anderson unearthed so much information on the Cuban revolution that he wanted to use all of it, and accidentally wrote a second book on Cuban history and placed it in the middle of this one. This is still useful if you're interested in that topic, but as a result this book becomes far more rambling, long-winded, and unfocused than it should be.

On the other hand, in the rest of the book Anderson definitely succeeds in showing all sides of Che's personality, both good and bad. Like the best of biographers, Anderson doesn't judge his subject and lets the facts speak for themselves. And what we have is a highly contradictory character. Che was admirably committed to his beliefs, but this commitment was so strong that his beliefs became unyielding and dogmatic. He was an exceptional leader of men but a horrendous politician, so he earned fanatical devotion from his followers but alienated everyone else. He personified the fatal flaw of all Communists by professing a love for the vague mass called "The People," but when it came to individual persons he persecuted (and sometimes executed) anyone who didn't follow his beliefs to the letter. While he was certainly a key player in the Cuban revolution, and Castro couldn't have done the job without him, Che accomplished little after that as he tried to inspire revolutions around the world. He couldn't accept the fact that his pie-in-the-sky dream of uniting all the world's oppressed peoples couldn't possibly work in reality, both for logistical reasons and because of the differences in people's political beliefs. But Che certainly had plenty of charisma and devotion, and that is still a pretty good reason for him to be inspirational to this day. However, his legions of admirers may want to read this book and learn more about what he really did - and didn't - accomplish.

77 of 88 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Balanced and thorough February 2, 2005

By Jerry Brito VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This is a very even-handed and thorough look at Che Guevara's life. As an anti-communist Cuban-American, I approached this book with skepticism, but ultimately thought it to be sound. John Lee Anderson is obviously sympathetic to Che, but how can you expect a biographer not to be. Additionally, I suspect that such sympathy is what allowed him access to previously unreleased documents held by the Cuban Council of State, as well as Che's widow. Anderson doesn't squander the opportunity and produces a scrupulous, yet eminently readable account. If you are looking to learn more about the Che--the good and the bad--this is undoubtedly where start.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellente March 22, 2005

By Mr Bojangles

Format:Paperback

If you are looking for an excellent book on Che Guevara, this one is it. It has it all, from his parents and his birth to his death in 1967 and his eventual return to Cuba 30 years later.

This book is very descriptive and extremely in-depth, so expect more than a simple narrative. It is a big book, it will take a little while to read, but it is time well spent.

I believe this book was as 'neutral' as it could possibly be, considering the highly contentious intellectual atmosphere that surrounds academic discussion of Cuba and the Revolution. It does not gloss over the fact that Che executed people, both during and after the guerilla war. Similarly, the book does not avoid the obvious humanistic and loving episodes in the life of Ernesto Guevara de la Serna. For his neutrality and artful handling of such a complex historical figure, who lived his life against a backdrop of events still highly controversial today, I commend Mr. Anderson.

Before reading this book, Che was an icon to me: a heroic revolutionary with dreams of intercontinental liberation and universal justice.

After reading this book, Che the icon disappeared. He became, to quote his reputed last words, simply "a man."