Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. By Author, Anderson, Jon L.
Anderson Jon evokes Che Guevara’s intricate character in describing his role and myth, in one of the darkest periods of the cold war. Notably, the book completes the heroic saga of an outstanding life. Anderson begins by breaking the account of the entire event, particularly after Che’s body was secretly hidden after his assassination in Bolivia in 1967. He gives an account of how Che’s body was discovered, and brought back to Cuba after thirty years of murder. He further analyzes how Che’s body was buried, a place where Che had won the most remarkable battle in his life during the Cuban revolution.
Articulately, Anderson reveals numerous details of Che’s intricate and secret life, he traces Che Guevara’s life from his rebellious and spoiled youth in Argentina, through his misadventures and adventures in Mexico and Guatemala, to Cuban revolution which was a success. Arguably, Anderson’s analysis is far from uncritical and well rounded. As a hard-line orchestrator, Che Guevara plays a hard role of firing gangs. The book wraps up graphic accounts of the hitherto murky episode of the grim story of Guevara’s capture, disastrous Bolivia insurgency, and murder. His account is far from crucial and well rounded.
In A Revolutionary Life, Guevara is described as a dashing rebel whose ambitious dream was to end injustice and poverty through armed revolution particularly in Latin America, and in the developing world. He seeks to capture the ideal man, a myth of the 20th century. A Revolutionary Life is long and contains profound investigations into various topics that are devoting, and with questionable relevance. Che’s life is portrayed as unquiet since childhood, his love for bikes and his childhood battles with asthma. From his youth, Guevara was very adventurous. He was the dare devil in his hood, who tested possible limits by daring personal exploits. With the built-in arrogance, young Guevara travelled through Central and South America on shoestring. He schemed through all his life, lived among the less fortunate and victims of foreign and government investors. Che trained as medical doctor and kept a periodical of his reactions to the experiences he encountered. This reveals an increasing radicalism, and a growing seriousness. In company with young optimistic, Che travelled to Guatemala with the hope of seeing real socialism after Jacob Arbenz was declared president of Guatemala.
Anderson extracts information on Guevara’s life from dozens of participants. The biography follows Guevara’s life from Argentina where he was born until C.I.A hunted him down in 1967. Anderson notes that, Guevara viewed his purpose in life as part of a fight against imperialism, in efforts to disunite Americans in Cuba. Guevara is seen as an individual with endless complexities and ambiguities. This trait makes Guevara succeed in various platforms. His achievements elevate him and make him essential for persons who are seriously interested in the Cuban revolution or him.
The mystery about Guevara’s life is how he manages to remain such a powerful icon. However, due to over reliance on secondary sources, Anderson fails to tackle the nature of the revolution in which Fidel Castro and Guevara among others were ready to die. Ideally, Che Guevara largely perceived his purpose in life as an intense struggle against imperialism that was aimed at breaking the U.S control over Cuba. Anderson sees the relationship between the U.S and Cuba as a tit-for-tat war. According to him, the final straw that happened on January 3rd 1961 that caused President Eisenhower to strengthen relations was actually mobilized by the military. Apparently, the Cuban government was overthrown by Washington and so launching an invasion while maintaining peaceful relations was arguably an uphill task. Despite denying plans to evade Cuba, Cubans were all ready for an attack from Washington.
Notably, Anderson downplays the U.S role in global events, and does not share Guevara’s perception on the U.S imperialism. However, there is minimal political orthodoxy in the context. Guevara is seen as a man who is basically spells out conviction by both deed and word. He inexorably separates himself from leaders of the Soviet who called upon peaceful coexistence. Che is angered by the established African and Latin America communist parties which betray him and infringe the rights of socialists. Anderson understands the controversies of the conflicts in Cuba. The battle in this region was intense, and Fidel Castro was left with no choice but to rest his power on his Cuban peasant, his army, and working class majorities. In doing this, Fidel Castrol proved to be promising what he had for long promised, subsequently, Che won Fidel’s abiding respect.
Che solicited weapons and other arms of defense across the world as he expected the assassination and invasion from the U.S. Notably, his intention was to initiate revolutions all over the world. On February 1965, Che organized his final speech around international socialist solidarity. He publically challenged his opponents, the socialist powers to adhere to his laws. However, Anderson does not quite believe in the controversy between Fidel and Castro. He reveals the close collaboration and support of the missions that are initiated by Guevara. It was after an intensive consultation with Fidel that Che made a resolution of spending his entire life as South and Central American fighter. In his last days, Che made a clarification on the conflict between the possessive individualism and socialist values of Soviet and Western “capital personifications”.
Consequently, while focusing on the uphill task of maintaining socialism in Cuba, Fidel Castro gave all support and resources to back the project. Anderson portrays Guevara’s capricious and romantic life in a insightful way, and gives a detailed and measured reading. In his forward, Anderson say, “my sole loyalty is to Che Guevara himself”. Che had come to believe that no revolution would endure without revolution of the socialist on Africa, America, and Asia. Che’s last frantic efforts could actually reflect his mature conviction, and testify to the romantic adventurism of his nature.
Notably, Anderson has given an account of how Che’s body was discovered, and brought back to Cuba after thirty years of murder. He has further analyzed how Che’s body was buried, a place where Che had won the most remarkable battle in his life during the Cuban revolution. Anderson has profoundly uncovered in troubling and absorbing detail the heritage of Che Guevara, a remarkable man. The book completes the heroic saga of an outstanding life, where Anderson begins by breaking the account of the entire event, particularly after Che’s body was secretly hidden after his assassination in Bolivia in 1967. He reveals numerous details of Che’s intricate and secret life, he traces Che Guevara’s life from his rebellious and spoiled youth in Argentina, through his misadventures and adventures in Mexico and Guatemala, to Cuban revolution which was a success.
Good Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. By Author, Anderson, Jon L Book Review Example
Type of paper: Book Review
Topic: United States, Revolution, Fidel Castro, Cuba, Youth, Body, Socialism, Life
Pages: 4
Words: 1200
Published: 03/30/2020
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