Product ReviewsChe Guevara : A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson (1998, Trade Paperback)

Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson

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.Read full review...

Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life.

From all the reviews I've read, I can't wait to get lost in the book.
By the way, the book is like new, quick ship and a great price.

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Excellent book

Love this book, I've read pretty near every book written on CHE and this by far is the best book ever written about him. I highly recommend this book. PROPS TO YOU JON

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Great read.

Full and concise.

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A wonderful book about a truly great man

This book covers Che's life and doesn't always paint him in the best light. But the truth is, the greats of history often aren't saints. But it is a very good to see what his life was like and what motivated him.Read full review...

Che Guevara

Great book very detailed 👌

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