Thursday 30 August 2012

Books about Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara

Remembering Che – My Life With Che Guevara

In this touchingly affectionate book, Aleida March – Ché’s second wife – recalls a revolutionary romance tragically cut short by Ché’s execution in Bolivia by CIA-backed troops. From a young “girl from the sticks” hopelessly addicted to romantic fiction, Aleida joins the guerrilla struggle against Batista before falling in love with iconic revolutionary hero Ernesto ‘Ché’ Guevara.

Aleida – with tremendous passion and poignancy – conjures a remarkable picture of a remarkable man. Unlike most literature surrounding the subject, the book gives a truly unique insight into Ché’s personality and touching humour. Like all of us, he is a flawed human being, but he is underpinned by steely determination and selfless dedication.

It also gives the first detailed impression of the life and role of Aleida March herself. Her strength and courage is exemplified – not just by her role bringing up four children with an absent father – but the crucial part she played establishing and developing the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) which is now the biggest NGO in the whole of Latin America.

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Who Killed Che? How the CIA got away with murder

This book presents fascinating new evidence which joins the dots between the role of the Bolivian armed forces and the CIA in the events leading to Che Guevara’s murder on 9th October 1967, nearly 24 hours after his capture.

The CIA began a file in July 1956, identifying “Che” as a key political figure and charted his movements from Cuba via the Congo to Bolivia. Despite their antipathy, Che’s personality and political qualities come through even these CIA files.

The account of Che’s capture is well documented but this book contains evidence of direct CIA involvement and places one of their agents at the scene of his murder consulting with the highest authorities in the administration. This is the “smoking gun” that puts them on the spot.

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Travelling with Che Guevara – The Making of a Revolutionary

In 1952, young doctor Alberto Granado, set off from Cordoba in Argentina and travelled through Chile, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela by motorbike, with him was a medical student named Ernesto Guevara.

Along the way they came across shocking levels of poverty and exploitation of the native population which had a massive effect on both men. This is the beginning of a tale in which Granado commits himself to medicine on his continent, and Ernesto becomes Che, Cuban revolutionary and Latin American hero.

Published for the first time in English, this partner to Che's Motorcycle Diaries is a moving and often hilarious story of how two carefree young men came of age and found their true purpose in life.

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Che in Verse

Complex and charismatic, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara has been immortalised in popular culture as the archetypal, self-sacrificing rebel with a cause. His martyr's death in October 1967 transformed him into the poster-boy of revolution - and also inspired poets and songwriters the world over to put pen to paper.

Che in Verse reproduces 134 of the finest poems and songs from 53 countries about or referring to this enigmatic Argentine-Cuban revolutionary. It examines how Che was celebrated or remembered from before his death at the hands of the CIA-backed Bolivian army to the present day. And it explores why Guevara - himself a gun-toting poet - has achieved a level of sanctification comparable to Christ.

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