Who Was Che Guevara

Viva la revolución! Find out how Che Guevara--a doctor turned communist leader and much more than a face on a T-shirt--ended up paying the ultimate price for his cause. His very image has become associated with a spirit of rebellion, but Ernesto Guevara--known around the world simply as Che--didn't dream of becoming a revolutionary. Author Ellen Labrecque takes readers on a journey through Che's life starting with his childhood in Argentina, to his travels through South and Central America as a young physician, and ending with his final years as a key player in the Cuban revolution. His legacy--as the author of The Motorcycle Diaries, a champion of the poor, and a force for change in Cuba--is both personal and political.

Examines the life of Che Guevara, including his family's background, childhood, education, and groundbreaking work as a revolutionary fighting against poverty.

A debunking of liberal myths about one of the most bloodthirsty icons of the twentieth century. Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the mainstream media celebrate Ernesto "Che" Guevara as a saint, a sex symbol, and a selfless martyr. But their ideas about Che—whose face adorns countless T-shirts and posters—are based on the lies of Fidel Castro's murderous dictatorship. Che's hipster fans are classic "useful idiots," the name Stalin gave to foolish Westerners who parroted his lies about communism. And their numbers only increased after a new biopic was released, starring Benicio Del Toro. But as Humberto Fontova reveals in this myth-shattering book, Che was actually a bloodthirsty executioner, a military bumbler, a coward, and a hypocrite. In fact, Che can be called the godfather of modern terrorism. Fontova reveals: • How he longed to destroy New York City with nuclear missiles. • How he persecuted gays, blacks, and religious people. • How he loved material wealth and private luxuries, despite his image as an ascetic. Are Che fans like Angelina Jolie, Jesse Jackson, Carlos Santana, and Johnny Depp too ignorant to realize they've been duped? Or too anti-American to care?

Che Guevara remains an iconic figure, four decades after his death. Yet his most significant contribution - his work as a member of the Cuban government - is rarely discussed. This book explores his impact on Cuba's economy, through fascinating new archival material and interviews.

The controversial life and career of Ernesto Ché Guevara (1928-1967) has earned the revolutionary leader admirers and detractors across the world. In his critical biography, Daniel James penetrates the myths that have grown up around Guevara since his death. The biography carefully analyzes the Cold War situations in which Guevara lived and fought, and which turned the young medical student into a guerilla and political theoretician. Ché Guevara: A Biography includes interviews with Guevara's first wife, and extensive information on the revolutionary's early years and family life lacking in other biographies. James also discusses Guevara's actions in Cuba as a leader in the rebel army of Fidel Castro, covering in detail Guevara's military victories, his post-war executions of anti-Castro prisoners, and his criticism of Soviet Communism. This unique and unsparing portrait of Guevara includes and an in-depth examination of his last guerilla campaign in Bolivia.

This reexamination of Ernesto "Che" Guevara's thoughts on socialism, democracy, and revolution is a must-read for today's activists—or anyone longing to fight for a better world. Fifty years after his death, Guevara remains a symbol to legions of young rebels and revolutionaries. This unique book provides a way to critically engage with Guevara's economic views, his ideas about revolutionary agency, and his conduct as guerrilla commander and government administrator in Cuba. Samuel Farber was born and raised in Cuba. He has written extensively on Cuba and the Cuban Revolution and is author of Cuba Since the Revolution of 1959.

A New York Times bestseller With a new introduction by The Motorcyle Diaries filmmaker Walter Salles, and featuring 24 pages of photos taken by Che. The Motorcycle Diaries is Che Guevara's diary of his journey to discover the continent of Latin America while still a medical student, setting out in 1952 on a vintage Norton motorcycle together with his friend Alberto Granado, a biochemist. It captures, arguably as much as any book ever written, the exuberance and joy of one person's youthful belief in the possibilities of humankind tending towards justice, peace and happiness. After the release in 2004 of the exhilarating film of the same title, directed by Walter Salles, the book became a New York Times and international bestseller. This edition includes a new introduction by Walter Salles and an array of new material that was assembled for the 2004 edition coinciding with the release of the film, including 24 pages of previously unpublished photos taken by Che, notes and comments by his wife, Aleida Guevara March, and an extensive introduction by the distinguished Cuban author, Cintio Vitier. "A journey, a number of journeys. Ernesto Guevara in search of adventure, Ernesto Guevara in search of America, Ernesto Guevara in search of Che. On this journey, solitude found solidarity. 'I' turned into 'we.'"—Eduardo Galeano "As his journey progresses, Guevara's voice seems to deepen, to darken, colored by what he witnesses in his travels. He is still poetic, but now he comments on what he sees, though still poetically, with a new awareness of the social and political ramifications of what's going on around him."—January Magazine "Our film is about a young man, Che, falling in love with a continent and finding his place in it." —Walter Salles, director of the film version of The Motorcycle Diaries "All this wandering around 'Our America with a Capital A' has changed me more than I thought." —Ernesto Che Guevara, from The Motorcycle Diaries

An intimate look at the man behind the icon, from the Guevara family's private archives. Includes extraordinary unpublished short stories and poems written to his wife and children as well as photos from the Guevara family album, showing a surprisingly sensitive and artistic side to the legendary revolutionary. Che's self-portrait photography are a key feature of the selection, presented alongside other material finally released for publication from his family's archives.