Rating:  Summary: Very Disappointing Review: I expected about the Che I know and love. Instead this cheap and inadequate book makes his life seem truely trivial. I mean were is his secret recipe for fried chicken, or the fact that he liked fat women. Very disappointing, while I may still be dead it doesn't mean I can't read.
Rating:  Summary: Very good book.. Review: Well I was very impressed at the amout of work that Jon Anderson put into this book. It accounts for so much in Che's life. I never knew so much about the man until I read this book. Che was a very strong willed man and had his mind set on many things. Anderson makes that very clear. It is a excellent account of a very not so well known man..
Rating:  Summary: THE END OF CAPITALISM... Review: Jon Lee Anderson does one of the most amazing jobs in portraying the figure of el "che" in a reality, and his struggles in wanting to end exploitation. i would highly recommned this book to every person on this earth, for someone that has no clue of el "che" to even a historian. this book also helps for people to comprehend of what is a true communist,instead of hearing the word and looking down on it. Ches struggle in ending u.s exploitation has not died, although is alive more than ever. one could see through biographies of el "Che" that revolutions around the world have not succedded due to the U.S cia billion dollars of investmets on counterinsurgency EACH YEAR, WE MUST ALL UNITE AROUND THE WORLD AND ESPECIALY IN THE U.S TO SPEAK OF THE TRUTH AND FOR A TRUE PEOPLES REPUBLIC WHERE INJUSTICES AND EXPLOITATION ENDS. As fidel Castro once said, "it does not matter, democrat or republicaN, they are all THE SAME enemies of a free world" HASTA EL DIA DE LA REVOLUCION!
Rating:  Summary: A Review from the moderate Right Review: Well written and easy reading..Jon Lee Anderson certainly did his homework. Though Mr Anderson tried very hard to write this biography without a leftist slant, his sympathies come through loud and clear. While Che, a revered figure in history, and a cultural icon (why???) he appears to be quite the hypocrite. True Blue Blood from an aristocratic family with higher education he went from one latin american country to the next in search of a cause. Never committing himself until his back was against the wall amid his peers, and his own idolization of Castro. Traveling up and down the continent of South American, grubbing food and money and lodging, never bathing or changing his clothes I feel Che was a lazy lazy person, who became ignited on whims and selfish desires.. He was not loyal to his girlfriend, nor his wife. He did not 'stick his neck out' for anyone until he met Castro. I dont understand the appeal of his politics nor this figure in history. Makes me wonder if the sections of his "sexually explicit diary" that were not given to the author, shows the subject was actually mad from syphyllis. (this is a thought not a fact) Bottom line: Excellent and facinating biography with great history (and if you think this is not available in american history youre wrong) Worth reading, but does not explain why this guy is an icon-especially among americans. VIA CAPITALISM READ AN AYN RAND BOOK!!
Rating:  Summary: worth the read Review: Probably the most thorough book and biography on Ernesto Che Guevara. Plus just the right background information to really give you a sense of Che's life and the circumstances in Cuba and Latin America. A history that is absent in our US society, but worth learning about.
Rating:  Summary: Very Well Researched Review: Well, researched, A thick manual and an excellent source of information from birth on. Jon Lee Anderson has done his homework and the book is rich with a bunch of hard to find anecdotes from well before Che's birth through his death, details of the CIA and information from JFK's personal assistant this book doesnt miss a beat! The book is SO full you wonder on the validity of all the information. I mean who is that well connected? Also the author seems particularly taken with Che, in essence Che's politics become his own. You can see it in the dismissive attitude with which he deals with Che's father. But overall i'm very impressed. Buy it! On sale of course! Happy Reading. Peace
Rating:  Summary: A landmark biography Review: Even as I'm not a fan of Che Guevara's politics, the work that Jon Lee Anderson has put together about his life and career is truly commendable. He sorts out an incomprehensible amount of detailed information in a very linear, comprehensive, yet simple fashion. The information he gained, some recorded for the first time ever, by gaining access to friends, relatives, and associates, as well as letters and diaries of Che Guevara, makes this work the definitive reference on the subject. Like many on the political left, the author is obviously enamoured with Guevara and tends to portray his actions as noble, admirable and heroic. This is quite an interpretive presentation of Guevara, one with which many would disagree. Anderson does give glimpses of Guevara's personality that show the side of him that could be maniacal, dilatory, and restless, but even these are downplayed as the innocuous by products of a passionate man. Because of this subjective portrayal in an otherwise very objective book, I cannot give it 5 stars. Still it's a remarkable, fascinating read and an amazingly authoritative and accomplished work.
Rating:  Summary: A Bigger than Life Book from a Bigger than Life Author Review: Finding an author who can dissect the life of someone as complex as Dr. Ernesto Guevara would be a formidible task. From his motorcycle adventures, to the Congo, to his death at the hands of hired assassins it's a life transcending life, passion beyond simple belief and a macabre martyrdom exceeding savagery. Anderson, no slouch at romantic adventures of his own, has done a definitive job of explaining someone who strode the earth as a giant and died the same way, without apology and without regrets. I hope the picture may be some day complete with an equally detailed account of of the monomaniacal Felix Rodriguez, who is the eminence gris of this and other intrigues of our times. Ernesto Guevara seems quaint today but to quote Joe Hill, "I'll never die said he".
Rating:  Summary: probably the best book I have ever read Review: First off, to the reader who said this book is good is not great, he or she must not have been paying attention. Che is called che because che is argentinian slang for "hey you" something that was touched upon in the book. I think it was given to him by cuban expatriates while they were in Mexico. Second of all the reasons for his conversion to communism are well documented, and it begins in his childhood, which you refered to as a distant biography, or something along those lines. I suggest that you snort some aderol when reading a book of the magnitude, so you can process and retain the information better. On another note, the books itself reads like a movie, no other man has lived his life so passionatly but yet so cold heartedly at the same time. He is that guy, as said in the movie swingers, that you dont know whether you like him or not. It is amazing how, in the twentieth century no less, how one man can have the CIA on a wild goose chase for years (although it seems that saddam hussein is doing the same 35 years later). John Lee Anderson meticulous research and love for the topic shines throughout, even the pictures are captivating. This book is the most complete work on ,as Jean Michael Satre said, the most complete man of our time
Rating:  Summary: An awesome autobiography about an awesome man Review: Che Guevara was an incredible human being. During his lifetime, he was labeled as a terrorist, but I think it is a mistake to dismiss him as that. He grew up in latin america, bore witness to the many injustices that people there suffered, and decided to do something about it. He could have lived a very comfortable life as a doctor in Argentina, but he decided to risk his life, safety and any possibility of a comfortable life to make the changes he saw needed to be made in his environment. This book should not be read as a biography of a communist, or a terrorist, but as one of an immensely intelligent, sensitive, and driven human being. After he had become one of the top officials in Cuba, he still did not live lavishly or comfortably. He worked longer and harder that most of his fellow Cubans to show that they could build their country through hard work. Yes, he was demanding, and brutal at times, but he was just as demanding and brutal on himself. He was a model of selflessness, and dedication, and ultimately lost his life to the causes he fought for.
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