Che Guevara: A Biography [Paperback]

Daniel James (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1969

The controversial life and career of Ernesto Ché Guevara (1928-1967) has earned the revolutionary leader admirers and detractors across the world. In his critical biography, Daniel James penetrates the myths that have grown up around Guevara since his death. The biography carefully analyzes the Cold War situations in which Guevara lived and fought, and which turned the young medical student into a guerilla and political theoretician. Ché Guevara: A Biography includes interviews with Guevara's first wife, and extensive information on the revolutionary's early years and family life lacking in other biographies. James also discusses Guevara's actions in Cuba as a leader in the rebel army of Fidel Castro, covering in detail Guevara's military victories, his post-war executions of anti-Castro prisoners, and his criticism of Soviet Communism. This unique and unsparing portrait of Guevara includes and an in-depth examination of his last guerilla campaign in Bolivia.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

James has not only gone through the many anecdotal articles which have appeared over the years in Argentine, Mexican, and Cuban periodicals but has also spoken at length with Ché's first wife. The strongest parts of the book are the initial chapters with sketch Guevara's family background and the Argentina in which he grew to maturity… (Library Journal )

Full of revealing details (Selden Rodman Saturday Review )

What makes James's book interesting is that it gives readers not only a glimpse of a political attitude from the 1960s that is often overlooked, but also a view of Guevara that they will not get elsewhere. James's biography was, and remains, remarkable because of its point of view. He was frankly out to debunk Guevara's Myth. (Henry Butterfield Ryan ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Daniel James is the editor of The Complete Bolivian Diaries of Ché Guevara, also available from Cooper Square Press. Henry Butterfield Ryan is a retired foreign service officer, an associate of Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, and the author of The Fall of Ché Guevara. He lives in Washington, D. C.

Daniel James is the editor of The Complete Bolivian Diaries of Ché Guevara, also available from Cooper Square Press. Henry Butterfield Ryan is a retired foreign service officer, an associate of Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, and the author of The Fall of Ché Guevara. He lives in Washington, D. C. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: Stein & Day Publishers (June 1969)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812813480
• ISBN-13: 978-0812813487
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,056,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Separating the myth adds a myth, May 17, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Che Guevara: A Biography (Paperback)

The author tries to separate the myth from the man and does offer some interesting analysis from his cynical viewpoint. But in debunking the myth, his point of view oversteps and creates another myth. The reader must continually weed these opinions from the facts, which he weaves in, back and forth in chronological time, using this device to often repeat his criticism, both real and imagined. Being published in 1969, Daniel James was at the disadvantage of writing soon after the events, but he does manage to make some interesting analysis when he's not too busy alienating Che.