Death of a Revolutionary: Che Guevara’s Last Mission

A probing account of the life and death of a 1960s revolutionary icon, with a new chapter on the effects of his legacy today. For many people, Ernesto Che Guevara symbolizes the movement for social change that swept the world in the 1960s–a man who gave his life for his ideals. Whether the man made the legends or the legends made the man, a romantic aura has attached to Che, obscuring the political realities that motivated him. In this astute study of Che’s life and his doomed campaign in Bolivia, which draws on extensive field research, Richard Harris considers the essential When Che Guevara was killed by the Bolivian Army in October 1967, did he die a hero, a martyr, or the victim of his own errors? Harris explores Che’s youth and early political indoctrination and his association with Fidel Castro and the Soviet Communist parties. He follows Che as he traveled to China, to Africa, to Moscow, seeking to create an anti-imperialist front among the neutral nations of Asia and Africa. And he interviews politicians, government officials, and journalists in Bolivia, where Che went hoping to lead a peasant uprising and instead met his death. Death of a Revolutionary offers a rare, balanced look at the man behind the legend–and the circumstances that created him and shaped his choices.