num_pages: 478
description: Decades ago, in the wilds of southeastern Bolivia, the life of Ernesto Guevara de la Serna came to a sudden, inglorious end. An unquenchable myth was born. To this day, the mere mention of "Che" summons up a mental picture of the bearded revolutionary leader who was deeply &amp; directly involved in the upheavals in Latin America &amp; Africa during the '50s &amp; '60s. From his inclusion of such unique material as Che's teenage love letters to his detailed review of archives in the former USSR &amp; elsewhere, Castaneda provides the most balanced &amp; thoro account of Che's personal &amp; political endeavors-neither a whitewash nor an excoriation, but biography at its best. He places each stage of Che's career in its social, cultural &amp; political context. He tackles questions that are crucial to understanding the entire Socialist venture: Did the Soviets help or betray Che in the Congo &amp; Bolivia? Did Fidel Castro wish him well or hope for his demise? Perhaps most compelling of all, how did a blue-blooded, asthmatic doctor from Argentina transcend ideology &amp; politics to become the icon known as Che?AcknowledgmentsPrologueChildhood, youth &amp; asthma in ArgentinaYears of love &amp; indifference in Buenos Aires: medical school, Péron &amp; ChichinaFirst blood: navigating is necessary, living is notUnder fire with Fidel Our man in Havana The "brain of the revolution"; the scion of the Soviet Union"Socialism must live, it isn't worth dying beautifully"With Fidel, neither marriage nor divorceChe Guevara's heart of darknessBetrayed by whom in Bolivia?Death &amp; resurrectionNotesIndex
language: English
title: Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara
titlecomplete: Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara
genres: Military Fiction, History, Bolivia, Autobiography, Latin American, Biography Memoir, Politics, Latin American History, Biography, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 1335
publisher: Alfred A. Knopf (NY)