Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson
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Book Reviews of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life
Book Review: An honest biography
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is excellent. It is as unbiased as any biography can be, and, as it claims, it is the difinitive, "must-read," most comprehensive book on Che.
Anderson manages to write a book that does n0t get caught up in Che worship, but does not judge him poorly for being a communist. It doesn't judge him at all, but presents him as he was. Anderson managed to get access to a lot of sources that were previously unavailable, such as Che's journal. These sources provide ubelievable insight into Che's paradoxical existance.
The book begins with his childhood, and explores the psychological effects his family's financial situation, his parents somewhat rocky relationship, and his asthma had on him as he grew. It then goes through his travels through south america, and the formation of his marxist views. I described Che as paradoxical, this is because on one hand he is very caring, yet then he can turn and murder "traitors" with seemingly no regrets. The book explores the psychology behind this. It explores the source of Che's intense hatred of cowardess. It continues through his time in the sierra maestra in cuba, through his political life in Cuba after the revolution came to power, and goes through his future marxist campaigns until his death.
Not only does the book provide a lot of insight into che's existance, but it is also very informative about the states of affairs throughout South America, and especially in Cuba, and also is very telling about hte personalities of the people CHe interacted with, most notably Fidel.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Che, the cuban revolution, south american politics, or who just likes to see into the human mind.
Book Review: An excellent biography of a man of limited accomplishments
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a superbly written and researched book, better than any other book about Che, and probably the best biography of a guerrilla leader ever published. Anderson is to be congratulated for his amazingly thorough research, and also his attempt to create a balanced, human portait of one of the most controversial figures of our age. Anyone looking for either a glorification or a condemnation of Che's life and work will not find it here. Anderson's documentation of Che's life is exhaustive, but never tedious. Not surprisingly, Che's various guerrilla campaigns -- in Cuba, Africa and finally Bolivia -- comprise the most interesting parts of the book. Even if you find Che's methods revolting, it's hard not to respect his courage in the face of often overwhelming military odds and almost constant physical hardship. I'm surprised that Che managed to live as long as he did, given his illnesses, the terrain in which he worked, and the lack of food, water and sanitation, not to mention the full-blown attacks, snipers, spies and betrayals that he faced all the time.
Still, for all his violent exploits, Che seems to have accomplished relatively little. His campaigns in Africa and Bolivia were utter failures, and he wore out his welcome in Cuba not too long after the Revolution. In fact, it's hard to identify anyone in this book who ended up better off as a result of his actions. Perhaps this book documents something we've known all along: that Che's romantic image dwarfs his actual accomplishments, and that the myth was much bigger than the man.
Book Review: A Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
Che Guevara was a very important and unusual historic figure of the last century.
A passionate idealist, he was deeply moved by the injustices and oppression faced by the poor and disadvantaged people in Latin America. He gave up the comforts that his family's connections and the benefits his own edcuation as a doctor of medicine could have brought him and struggled to set right the wrongs that he believed soley arose from the exploitation of the poor in Latin America by the capitalists, in particular the big corporations and the government of the United States.
He was perhaps the main architect of the Cuban revolution. With his charisma,inspring leadership, dedication to social justice, strong principles and disinterest in personal gain, he was without question the most principled revolutionary of his times.
Che was also an accomplished poet and a gifted writer capable of expressing his emotions with great feeling. It is a pity that he believed in violence as the only way to set right social wrongs. With his magnetism and leadership qualities, he could perhaps have succeeded in his aims had he chosen the path of nonviolence like Mahatma Gandhi.
This book tells Che Guevera's life story in a moving and masterly fashion. An added bonus is that it also gives a good account of the Cuban revolution and Fidel Castro.The book is a bit long. However, the details, in my view are necessary to make it a complete narrative.
Please read this book.
Book Review: MY REVOLUTIONARY BROTHA
Summary: 5 Stars
i love revolutionary people. with out them we would still be slaves. with out revolutionaries like malcom x or
martin l.king we might not have civil rights. this book will take you from before che was born all the way past his death covering every thing. this book is huge. it covers everything and includes a lot of great photos. i see a lot of people wearing his t-shirt in san diego but the people dont know who he is so thats what made me buy the book. he was a communist and nothing wrong with that. its just a form of gov. that he lived under and was his choice. just like americans.democracy is a form of gov. we live under and is our choice. do you hate poor communist who live on the streets? i dont. what about a person living under democracy who is poor living
on the streets. do you hate that person? no its silly. just because the governments dont like one another dont meant the people have to follow. so what im saying is whether che is communist or not i love him for what he fought for. many people stood up against america for its wrongs. so why not che guevara. america is wicked and is destructive world wide and he was there to try and stop etc. get the book its great.ALSO CHE BELIEVED IN THE BLACK CHRIST. SEE NOT ALL OF THE WORLD LOOKS AT JESUS AS A WHITE PERSON. IN SOUTH AMERICA WHERE HE IS FROM MOST PLACES LIKE GUATEMALA BELIEVE IN THE BLACK CHRIST AS HE DID AND I
THOUGHT THAT WAS VERY INTERESTING.
Book Review: superlative and always relevant
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book shortly before going into the Peace Corps in 2006 and with a curosity that, as I saw the book on numerous bookshelves all over the world, seemed to always be present. For "Che haters" you'll hear many comments usually with the word "communist" included. The fact is he was anything but a communist. For those more enlightened, he represents an idealism and theory as put forth in "A Theory of Justice" by John Rawls. Anderson does well to document the hatred Che had for capitalism and the destruction it brought to the people of Central and South America. Anderson documents with clarity and compassion the man Che sought to be and the intellect he brought to his efforts to improve the life's of people all over the world through his vision of what it meant to be "a citizen of the world". Unfortunately uppper middle class and elite power structure, El Che was destined to failure and execution. Anderson goes into great detail the events subsequent to the conference Che, along with Castro and Kruschev, in Algiers when Che broke ranks with the communist ideology once and for all. Unfortunately his comments and actions were more or less the deciding events that determined his eventual fate. If you're interested reading a book that dispels many of the myths of the man, allows you to understand clearly where he was coming from as a revolutionary and what he hoped to accomplish, take some time and read this carefully.