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3 Beaverton World History- Cuba
3 Burnside Latin America- Cuba

Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life

by Jon Lee Anderson

Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life Cover

Awards

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

Staff Pick

Che Guevara's face can seem ubiquitous these days. Knowing very little about him, I decided to pick up this rather hefty biography by Jon Lee Anderson. I was planning on scanning the 832-page book for the highlights, but after only twenty pages I was hooked. Jon Lee Anderson has written a very thorough and thoroughly engaging book, separating the myth from the man in an even-handed way. Anderson talked directly with as many key figures in Guevara's life as possible, including both his wives and the wife of the man who ordered Guevara's execution. Also of note is how well the author puts Guevara's life in context with US, Soviet, and South American politics. This book is highly recommended for anyone wanting to go beyond the poster image.
Recommended by jeffg, Powells.com

Che Guevara's face can seem ubiquitous these days. Knowing very little about him, I decided to pick up this rather hefty biography by Jon Lee Anderson. I was planning on scanning the 832-page book for the highlights, but after only twenty pages I was hooked. Jon Lee Anderson has written a very thorough and thoroughly engaging book, separating the myth from the man in an even-handed way. Anderson talked directly with as many key figures in Guevara's life as possible, including both his wives and the wife of the man who ordered Guevara's execution. Also of note is how well the author puts Guevara's life in context with US, Soviet, and South American politics. This book is highly recommended for anyone wanting to go beyond the poster image.
Recommended by jeffg, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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 battle fields 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.

Review:

"Combining contradictory sources and an immense amount of detail, Anderson projects a multifaceted view of Guevara as a person, seething with ambiguities and complexities. This is an achievement that makes Che Guevara essential for anyone seriously interested in Guevara or the Cuban revolution." Jane Franklin, The Nation

Review:

"Superb....Mr. Anderson does a masterly job in evoking Che's complex character, in separating the man from the myth." The New York Times Book Review

Review:

"[Che's] ideal, that curious mixture of resoluteness and recklessness...is brilliantly evoked in Jon Lee Anderson's massive biography which traces, with exacting precision, the avatars of Che's epic life....The portrait is now as complete as it will ever be." The Times Literary Supplement (London)

Review:

"And enduring achievement. It is hard to imagine that any [other biography] will match the volume and detail of the research here....[Guevara's] victories and failures, equally spectacular, are part of our common history....Che lives, not only in this book, but in the world." The Boston Globe

Review:

"Excellent....[A]dmirably honest [and] staggeringly researched....It is unlikely that after Anderson's exhaustive contribution, much more will be learned about Guevara." Los Angeles Times

Review:

"The author's fondness for showering the reader with every detail he has uncovered makes this sprawling book sometimes tough slogging, but students of Che's life and deeds need look no farther than Anderson's volume." Kirkus Reviews

Description:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 777-787) and index.

About the Author

Jon Lee Anderson began working as a reporter in 1979 for the Lima Times in Peru. During the 1980s he covered Central America, first for the syndicated columnist Jack Anderson and later for Time magazine. He has also written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper's, Life, and The Nation and is the author of Guerrillas. Jon Lee Anderson lives in Spain with his family.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780802135582
Subtitle:
A Revolutionary Life
Author:
Anderson, Jon Lee
Publisher:
Grove Press
Location:
New York :
Subject:
Historical
Subject:
Biography
Subject:
Political
Subject:
American
Subject:
Historical - General
Subject:
Latin america
Subject:
Guerrillas
Subject:
Guevara, ernesto, 1928-1967
Subject:
Guerrillas -- Latin America -- Biography.
Subject:
Guevara, Ernesto
Subject:
Guerrillas -- Latin America.
Copyright:
Edition Number:
1st paperback ed.
Series Volume:
5455
Publication Date:
March 1998
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
832
Dimensions:
9.08x5.98x1.74 in. 2.47 lbs.

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