Overview
Combining unprecedented access to the personal archives maintained by Guevara's widow, carefully guarded Cuban government documents, and extensive interviews with both Che's comrades and the CIA men and Bolivian officers who hunted him down, this acclaimed biography stands as "an enduring achievement" "The Boston Globe", illuminating as never before this mythic figure who embodied the greatest moment of revolutionary communism as a force in history. 832 pp. 9-city author tour. 50,000 print.Synopsis
Acclaimed around the world and a national best-seller, this is the definitive work on Che Guevara, the dashing rebel whose epic dream was to end poverty and injustice in Latin America and the developing world through armed revolution. Jon Lee Anderson’s biography traces Che’s extraordinary life, from his comfortable Argentine upbringing to the battlefields of 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.
Anderson has had unprecedented access to the personal archives maintained by Guevara’s widow and carefully guarded Cuban government documents. He has conducted extensive interviews with Che’s comrades—some of whom speak here for the first time—and with the CIA men and Bolivian officers who hunted him down. Anderson broke the story of where Guevara’s body was buried, which led to the exhumation and state burial of the bones. Many of the details of Che’s life have long been cloaked in secrecy and intrigue. Meticulously researched and full of exclusive information, Che Guevara illuminates as never before this mythic figure who embodied the high-water mark of revolutionary communism as a force in history.
NY Times Book Review
A superb biography....Mr. Anderson does a masterly job in evoking Che's complex character, in separating the man from the myth.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewJune 1997
The cover of Jon Lee Anderson's biography Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life features a familiar image of the mythic revolutionary. Banners and newspapers across the island of Cuba are trumpeting 1997 as "the year of the 30th anniversary of the death in combat of the heroic guerrilla and his comrades." And while his popularity continues to swell, Che's name and face are increasing sales. Five new biographies, six new films, posters, T-shirts, key chains, and Fischer's Revolution Skis all flaunt his image. But the depth and volume of Jon Lee Anderson's biography redeem the diminishing effects of such widespread commercialization. Anderson digs well beneath the iconography to reveal Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the man and his immortal revolutionary spirit.
The paradigm of revolutionary appearance and behavior, Che Guevara has become better known as an icon of revolution and a champion of the oppressed than for his political activities. Anderson had unprecedented access to Che's personal archives, Cuban government files formerly sealed to outsiders, and information from the former Soviet Union; he also conducted interviews with scores of Che's closest friends. His book invites readers to explore the character of a man whose "unshakable faith in his beliefs was made more powerful by his unusual combination of romantic passion and a coldly analytical mind." Anderson's careful research takes readers from Che's Argentinean upbringing through his medical school training, from the evolution of his revolutionary fervor and his relationship with Fidel Castro tohisexecution at age 39 in Bolivia, providing an effortless rendition of a man who would spawn legends.