Title: La vida por un mundo mejor – Che
Author: Pacho O’Donnell
Editor: Editorial Sudamericana
ISBN: 950-07-2375-1
Comments: I bought this book while waiting in Buenos Aires bus station before heading towards Puerto Iguazu, one of the last sites I visited during my trip through Argentina.
Being really honest I just started having some interest by the life and work of Ernesto Guevara – by the way this book is a biography of Che Guevara, who participated in the Cuban Revolution – after watching the movie Motorcycle Diaries, listening to Daniel’s (an anthropologist friend of mine) thoughts on him, being at the show Kevin Johansen gave in Miramar, and because the book I was reading at the time (Las venas abiertas de America Latina – by Eduardo Galeano), where the author mentioned Che a few times, firing up my curiousity. Before that I didn’t have much idea of him apart from knowing he fought next to Fidel Castro and that everyone seems to have a t-shirt with his portrait on… but no better place to find a character than on his own birthplace (yes Ernesto Guevara was born in Argentina not Cuba)!
When I saw the book standing there I just bought it, also because I was finishing the one from Eduardo Galeano.
It is a masterpiece, where Che is presented not only as a guerrillero (warrior) but also as a human, a thinker and a genius and tremendous visionary of his time. It shows the successes and failures of this historical icon tracing back his path, from his diaries and statements from the mouths of his friends and enemies and an eloquent and extensive research made by the author. A remarkable book for a remarkable man.