Che Guevara

A Revolutionary Life

By: Jon Lee Anderson

Narrated by: Armando Durán

Length: 36 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Che Guevara was a dashing rebel whose epic dream was to end poverty and injustice in Latin America and the developing world through armed revolution.

Jon Lee Anderson traces Che's extraordinary life from his comfortable Argentine upbringing to the battlefields of the Cuban revolution, from the halls of power in Castro's government to his failed campaign in the Congo and his assassination in the Bolivian jungle.

Meticulously researched and full of exclusive information, this work illuminates as never before the mythic figure who embodied the high-water mark of revolutionary communism as a force in history.

©1997 Jon Lee Anderson (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

F A N T A S T I C ! ! !

This is honestly one of the best Audible books I have ever heard (I've heard over 150)... A little slow at the beginning, but then it gets very exciting when you get into the revolutionary nitty gritty.

Should be an Audible Essential.

An interesting story tediously told

This book proves that Che had a fascinating life and that not every aspect of his life was fascinating. This author and his editor didn’t recognize the latter point. This author loves quoting lengthy excerpts from other sources like Che loved communism. He doesn’t care if you have other books to read, he doesn’t care if you’ve already listened to 32 hours of his book, he doesn’t care if it bores you to death. He’s going to make you listen to a POEM WRITTEN BY ONE OF CHE’S FRIENDS! If you’re looking for an exhaustive history of Che, congratulations and get ready to be exhausted.

Touching insight in a complex personality.

Being a right winged European, I have never been much interested in Cuba, Castro or Che Guevara, but I couldn't put down this work. It's full of details, and beautifully written so it never gets boring. The book gives a great insight in life and thoughts of Che Guevara and the contrast with other people, most notably with Fidel Castro. It's definitely not a hero's story. It's unbelievable how many of today's conflicts in Africa and especially South and Middle America were started with the help of Che Guevara. This is a fantastic work about a guy that lived and in the end died for his principles. A book I should have read 15 years earlier.

A story of dedication

I wasn't really sure about listening to this book to be honest. Firstly it's long, really long and second I wasn't really sure it I'd like what I was going to hear.

The book starts with his early life and this background formed a strong foundation for the rest of the story including explaining the basis for some of the beliefs he held later in life.

While the views of Che Guevara still baffle me the book did a great job of explaining how they developed over time and showed a lot of what made Che Guevara so dedicated to his country, his leader and his cause.

The book is interesting for it's historical information and for the information is gives about what it means to be someone with strong convictions.

Well worth the credit.

Wow! What an amazing Story!

The Author’s use of Che’s and all others diaries, manuscripts and letters gave the book a real voice. The history was fascinating especially the US.

Excellent narrative on the life of Che

This book provides an excellent narrative on the life of Che Guevara. I believe it portrays Che fairly, allowing the reader or listener to make their own judgement of the famous revolutionary. This book portrays Che as a man who lived an extraordinary life, who did the best he could according to his ideals.

This Truly Was A Revolutionary Life!

I found that this audio book was one of the types of books that kept getting better and better and better all the way until the very end when it reached a crescendo in the portrayal of this revolutionary figure, Che Guevara.

I admit, I didn't know much about Che Guevara throughout the years other than seeing his symbolic symbols from time to time emblazoned on T-shirts and graffiti filled walls. To find out that he was such a revolutionary who essentially gave his life in order to try to end poverty and injustice and his homelands in Latin America, sheds a whole new light on him for me. There's not a whole a lot of people who will give their life fighting for anything that they really truly say they believe in, but he's one of them.

I'm not ready to cast him as a hero of mine just yet, but the author of this audio book did a wonderful job in telling the story of a revolutionary figure who will go down in history as fighting for something that he really truly believed in.

If you want to learn a few things about the revolutionary era that took place over the last 50 years in Latin America, this would be a fantastic book that would give you great insight to just that!

Extremely Good

Wow, what a great book about such a great revolutionary figure. Some of the Spanish names and places were a little hard to follow for the typical American like myself but overall, this book was extremely interesting and I really enjoyed learning and hearing more about Che and his efforts.

Still Listening

This is a very long book; at 37 hours, it is double the size of what is already a long listen As anything else, it was worth reading to understand more about a person I only heard about, Che. This is a very unlikely read for me, but I enjoy history and am willing to try to read about anyone I think might be interesting or provide insight,it does not hurt to know a little, even if the book is not finished. The reader learns about Che's parents;s lives, Che's upbringing and attitudes; it follows Motorcycle Diaries very closely during that particular time. I am at the point in my reading that is a little before revolution, so I plan to return to it. There are SO many Latin names that are referenced; so many that I think what I read about how the author was able to get such a great accounting of Che's life was talking to all of these people and promising to use their name in the book. It is humorous. For historical reading, this is worthwhile, which is how I look at it. I have about 15 hours to go!

Shane

Extremely detailed and very easy to keep attentive. Narrator awesome