I won this as an Early Review and felt compelled to give it a go at the time I received it, which may have colored my impression of it. I generally do not read books on politics or political history, but given that I knew little about Guevara, I thought this work would be a great opportunity to correct that and maybe even find that I'm more interested in those fields. Unfortunately, I found this book quite dry, a fault which may or may not lie with the reader instead of the author. I may give it another try in the future; however, I will do so only when I'm feeling more in the mood. ( )

Richard L. Harris provides an overview of Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s early years, the experiences that led to the development of his ideological worldview, his missions and projects, and a window into his thoughts and feelings.

The book culminates with a well-researched step-by-step narration of Che’s final mission in the mountains of Bolivia, carefully parsing the actions and dynamics that led to its failure. Che was certainly betrayed by Marxist leaders in Bolivia, who were preoccupied with their own territorial power plays and felt threatened by Che’s eminence.

Nevertheless, Harris does a great job of illuminating just how Che’s over-reliance on his own vision, and a belief in his own infallibility, might have finally cemented the breakdown of his last project. In his book “La Guerra de guerrillas,” based on his experiences as a guerrilla leader in Cuba and Angola, Che had outlined a series of tactics meant to ensure a successful guerrilla mission.

However, his last mission broke several of his own crucial rules, thus creating a snowballing effect that eventually led to devastating results. As an example, one of the main tenets for a successful guerrilla war, according to Che, was to ensure the support and participation of the local population, something that Che never counted with in his Bolivian mission. Intimidated, suspicious and resentful, the locals were never engaged and most refused to consider Che and his followers as anything other than foreigners stirring up unwanted trouble. Readings from Che’s diaries show that this fact was an endless source of frustration, yet he never seems to have seriously considering the idea of aborting the project.

His refusal to give up the mission would, in the end, lead many of his faithful followers to a tragic death that, examined in hindsight, could have been prevented. Harris does a good job of bringing Che’s voice to the reader, through his diaries and the writings of others who accompanied him. He also sheds light on the mystery of Che’s final days and his death at the hands of CIA-sponsored Bolivian members of the military, providing throughout the book a fair-minded examination into the heroic myth of Che, and breaking through romantic mists of history, he exposes the frailties of the human character that inevitably affect heroes and leaders of all times.

Che's legacy is of great historical importance and its momentum has been felt to this day. I recommend this book for those interested in this historic period in Latin America as well as those who may be interested in the dynamics and traps affecting leadership roles, regardless of the reader's political ideology.

As a leftist Mexican-American, I have grown up over the years idolizing Che, and all for which he stood. In college I developed an appreciation for sources close to the original material, lucky to have been taught by professors who were there in Latin America during this time period (though I had never read the original edition in my studies). With all this in mind, I approached Death of a Revolutionary with a great deal of interest, especially when selected as an "Early Reader" for LibraryThing.

What I received was definitely an advance copy. There was still considerable copy editing to be done, mostly of a grammatical nature. The font in the epilogue changed frequently and haphazardly. And the final three chapters of the book each quoted the same passage from Guevara's final letter to his children.

Imperfections of production aside, this was indeed a valuable history. Written originally in the months after Guevara's death by an academic who travelled to the scene and was diligent in his excavation of original source material (he could not identify many of the interviewees at the time for their own safety, he claims). This volume is one of those rare occasions where a new edition is actually fairly long overdue. In the past ten years, much new information has been declassified or uncovered, and the further exploits of participants of the story and the inheritors of Che's legacy certainly throw new spins on the older material.

Every chapter, I thought "Aha! This is the part I've been waiting for!" I was continually exposed to new details that had escaped my previous studies. The book covers in detail the specifics of the Bolivian operation, Guevara's reasons for being there, and both the local and imperial efforts to eliminate the nascent guerrilla force. Now that I've finished the book, the chapters regarding the greater geopolitics of this operation stand out as the best - most certainly a well-formulated synthesis tempered by subsequent decades of analysis.

The one textual failing of this book can be found in its latter chapters - those dealing with Che's popular legacy. The author definitely strove to keep his idolatry in check, but even I found the naked hero worship detractive from the scholarship of the rest of the volume. Certainly, Guevara's adherents have found renewed political success across Latin America, and they are all quick to point to his shining example. However, the author is quite evidently sympathetic to the cause, and is quick to strike against Guevara's modern detractors, such as Christopher Hitchens. Harris rejects Hitchens' denigration of Che's legacy as romantic rather than revolutionary, but perhaps in doing so he fails to appreciate the romanticism inherent in Che's legacy for its own value.

What's the best way for a symbol of change to defeat a capitalist regime? What such a regime does best is appropriate and commercialize. Retain the subversive edge through romantic affinity, Che's example shows us, and let it percolate for a few generations. The romantic quality of Guevara's legacy does not detract from its revolutionary value. Harris attempts to reconcile this; that this is the only fault I could find in an otherwise exemplary volume is a credit to the author, and the tests of time. ( )

Notes toward a review:
I read this more than 36 years ago, as a teenaged New-Leftist. (Astonishingly, after 36 years and a dozen moves, I can still lay my hands on my copy.) Today, it's been re-issued in a revised edition. Much has changed in the interim. Reviewing this requires me to look at what's changed in the revised edition, AND at what's changed in the world.

The blurb on the cover of the 1971 paperback asks, "Was he hero or psychopath, martyr, or misfit? Che Guevara died with a smile. Was it death by error - or betrayal?"

Harris’ book on Che Guevara, Death of a Revolutionary: Che Guevara's Last Mission, Updated Edition, was well thought out, with a clear defined thesis that incorporated detailed accounts from primary sources, as well as simple definitions of terms that may not be as easily understood to the ordinary reader. This book was written in a chronological frame, with heavy emphasis on the events leading up to revolution, and during Che’s time spent in Bolivia. Where as one might think that this book is destined for college classrooms, I would recommend that Harris’ account of this vital piece of South American history be read by historians, and also by those who are looking to broaden their horizons into the field of history that is not always taught in classrooms. In short, this book is excellent, and I find it to be a well-rounded read, and a vital part to my personal library.

–kc– ( )