Che Guevara (1928–1967)

Scientist, traveller, revolutionary. That’s the portrait of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara that emerges from a new collection of his letters that uses material long guarded in Cuban archives. I Embrace You with All My Revolutionary Fervor: Letters 1947-1967 begins with Guevara as a 19-year-old in his native Argentina, spans his ventures across Latin America and in Congo, and ends months before his death in Bolivia. Guevara is a fine letter-writer and this collection highlights the maturity of his young mind. A research medic and a stringent social critic, he is a lively wit who describes himself as a ‘little wandering prophet who, in a loud voice, goes around announcing the coming of the final judgment day’.

The wandering prophet’s communist commitment gestated in his young adulthood, as he saw Latin America’s vast inequalities at close quarters during his motorcycle trip through South America in 1952 and his travels across Central America from 1953 to 1956. In Costa Rica, having witnessed the treatment of local workers by the US multinational company United Fruit, Guevara writes to his aunt: ‘I swore before a picture of the old and lately lamented compañero, Stalin, not to rest until I see these capitalist octopuses annihilated.’

Along with the strength of his ideology, the letters underscore his devotion to science. Guevara appears to have been close to the cutting edge of allergy medicine in Latin America. ‘I am certain’, he wrote in 1954, ‘that if I reach my truly creative phase at about 35, my exclusive, or at least main, concern will be nuclear physics, or genetics, or some other field that brings together the most interesting aspects of knowledge.’

Read the rest of the review at a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/review/i-embrace-you-all-my-revolutionary-fervor-letters-1947-1967-che-guevara-review">HistoryToday.com.

Daniel Rey is a writer and critic based in New York.… (more)

This is the story of a group of boys who try to save the world As boys, Kenji and his friends came up with a bunch of stories about an evil organization bent on world destruction. As adults, someone is now turning their fantasies into reality Reads R to L (Japanese Style), for audiences T . Humanity, having faced extinction at the end of the 20th century, would not have entered the new millennium if it weren't for them. In 1969, during their youth, they created a symbol. In 1997, as the coming disaster slowly starts to unfold, that symbol returns. This is the story of a group of boys who try to save the world. There once was a hero who stood against evil. He sacrificed himself to save the world, and everyone believed he died on Bloody New Year's Eve. But eighteen years later, when the entire world is under the control of the enigmatic figure known as the Friend, the hero comes back Kenji is back and is heading for Tokyo, where the Friend is preparing his next horrific plan. Meanwhile, Kanna and the rest of Kenji's group make their move toward the final battle Could it finally be time for justice to rise once again?… (more)

A new, revised and expanded edition of an Ocean Press classic. This reader is the bestselling, most comprehensive selection of Che Guevara's writings, letters and speeches available in English. This volume covers Che's writings on the Cuban revolutionary war, the first years of the revolution in Cuba and his vision for Latin America and the Third World. It includes such classic essays as "Socialism and Man in Cuba" and his call to create "Two, Three, Many Vietnams." Among the features of this expanded edition are several unpublished articles, essays and letters, including a letter from Che to his children shortly before his death in Bolivia in 1967 and an essay, "Strategy and tactics for the Latin American revolution." This new edition of a popular Ocean title is published in collaboration with the Che Guevara Archive in Havana. It includes: * an expanded and revised chronology * complete bibliography of the works of Che Guevara * new, extensive annotation and index "Deep inside the T-shirt where we have tried to trap him the eyes of Che Guevara are still burning with im-patience."--Ariel Dorfman… (more)