Roll Over Cheguevara: Travels of a Radical Reporter [Hardcover]

Mark Cooper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1996

At the age of 20, after being expelled from his California university for anti-war activism, Marc Cooper moved to Santiago and worked as translator for Chilean President Salvador Allende. The heat of Allende's socialist revolution forged Cooper's political and reporting skills, indelibly imprinting them with a radical perspective. In 1973, at great personal risk, he began first-hand reporting on the fiery destruction of Allende's government and Chilean democracy as a result of the US-financed coup. 20 years later, travelling as a radical journalist in a reactionary world, Cooper continues to chronicle, with humour and detail, the events that make the headlines. In this book, he takes readers on a tour of the New World Order, including Pinochet's Chile, Nicaragua in the last hours of the Sandinistas, Soweto under siege, Panama still smoking after the US invasion, Baghdad bracing for the apocalypse and into the new Moscow mafia. The title piece shows Che Guevera's grandson and a new generation of Cuban youth still yearning for Che's ever-elusive promise of freedom. The second half of the book, set exclusively in the USA, gives a ground-level view of a society in dizzying decay. Readers fly in Bill Clinton's private campaign plane from New Hampshire to Georgia while the candidate shifts his image - even his accent - in the quest for votes. Readers are guided through America's cultural background, from Dan Quayle and his confrontation with Hollywood to the ambassadors from armageddon who dominated the 1992 Republican Convention. When Cooper's home town, Los Angeles, burns with 1000 fires of rage, he takes readers to the very edge of history, describing America's war with itself. This journey culminates in a personal trip to the city that stands as an icon for the marketplace ethos of today - Las Vegas.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Verso (February 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859840655
• ISBN-13: 978-1859840658
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,532,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gonzo Reading!, January 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Roll Over Cheguevara: Travels of a Radical Reporter (Hardcover)

Cooper's book is truly a knock-out. A whirlwind, drag-out, bust-em-up, radical, political, cultural tour from Moscow, to Iraq to Cuba and back to Los Angeles and Las Vegas. His eye for telling detail bowled me over as he ripped open the seamy underside of the new global economy and the new world order. I read a lot of lefty writers and enjoy them. But Cooper adds something new to the mix: a real talent for seeing, listening, reporting and writing. Don't miss his chapter on Las Vegas. In a clear homage to Doctor Gonzo (Hunter S. Thompson), Marc Cooper just flays at the capital of ersatz culture. When's his next book? Sign me up.