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Che for Beginners

Ernesto "Che" Guevara was the quintessential modern revolutionary. Part pop fantasy, part bullet-ridden reality — and photogenic as a movie star — Che was the ideal poster boy for the Revolution. He made revolution look romantic, even in death. He was so perfect for his "job" that an honest retelling of his life sounds like a Hollywood movie gone mad. The Che we know was almost literally created by the CIA. As a young pre-med student traveling through Latin America, Che was horrified by the poverty of the people and vowed to help them. A CIA-backed crushing of a populist movement in Guatemala (1954) convinced Che that the only way to help his people was through revolution. So Che, a medical doctor, joined the Cuban revolution and became Fidel Castro's right-hand man. He led the guerrilla army and fought at their side. He started schools, hospitals, a "people's" newspaper; he kept journals and wrote books. He even designed Cuba's early post-revolutionary economy — an admitted failure (if Cuba had a dollar for every Che poster sold in the U.S., Cuba's economy would be thriving.) Che's integrity (unlike Castro's) was never questioned. He was so committed to helping oppressed people that he didn't wait to enjoy the fruits (or "spoils") of his success in Cuba. He moved to Bolivia to assist their revolution. He was captured and killed in 1967. Three decades after his death, Che's popularity is undergoing a rebirth. Whether one agrees with his politics or not, Che's life was a testimony to the incredible power of having a mission in one's life.

  • Format
  • paperback
  • Pages
  • 184
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9780863162565
  • Genres
  • history, biography, comics, politics
  • Release date
  • 1997