From Library Journal
With the partial opening of Cuban archives to foreign scholars and increased access to Cuban historical individuals come back to back two important new biographies of the Argentinean-born Cuban revolutionary leader and ideologue, Che Guevara. First there was American journalist Jon Lee Anderson's Che Guevara (LJ 4/15/97) and now this one, by one of Mexico's leading political writers and a professor of international affairs (New York Univ.). Though the two volumes cover similar territory, they are not the same. Anderson's volume is the larger and occasionally includes greater detail on aspects of Che's life, but Casta?eda takes more of an academic approach and is better at placing Che in the context of Cuban and world history. Anderson writes journalistically, while Casta?eda is perceptive and creative. This biography is an important addition to our understanding of Che and the Cuban revolution and will be valuable to any library interested in the history of the 20th century.-?Mark L. Grover, Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UtahCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New Yorker, Alma Guillermoprieto
Che's life following the revolution's triumph was a slow accretion of wreckage, and it is in the narration of this collapse that Companero, Jorge Castaneda's beautiful and passionate biography, is most lucid.... Castaneda is as unflinching as his hero: he has searched CIA records and the recollections of Guevara's closest comrades in order to prise away layers of after-the-fact justifications and embellishments of the Che legend. In the process, he makes Ernesto Guevara understandable at last, and his predicament deeply moving.


The New York Times Book Review, Mark A. Uhlig
Castaneda ... places the inherent drama of the revolution in its necessary political perspective, drawing a clear line between history and hagiography and foreshadowing the career of freelance subversion that would later cost Guevara his life and earn him a place in modern political mythology.


Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review, Richard Eder
Begun with a provocative reflection, Castañeda's biographical examination of Che Guevara continues that way. It is a search and a self-search, troubled and magisterial at the same time. It is an exercise of the heart and the mind, penetrating enough to reach an impressive conclusion but not glib enough to rejoice in it or to tidy away all signs of its author's struggle.... Compañero wields detail where it counts. Some of Castañeda's interviews are unique and notably revealing, but he is immune to the journalist's and researcher's temptation to use material because he has discovered it.


From Booklist
In 1967, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, the Argentine doctor and revolutionary who joined with Castro to overturn Fulgencio Batista's regime in Cuba, was trapped in an inhospitable region of Bolivia and later executed by the Bolivian military. The thirtieth anniversary of his death is being celebrated in Cuba, and Castaneda's book is the second to be published this year (a third is being published in October as well, Paco Ignacio Taibo II's Guevara, Also Known as Che). Reporter Jon Anderson beat everyone to the finish line with his Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. Anderson gives readers a full hero's treatment of Che, enlightened by an ample discussion of Che's machismo; Castaneda goes for the jugular. He psychoanalyzes every important, and semi-important, action taken by Che: the mountain climbing and rugby playing in spite of his asthma; his decision to become a doctor; the trips across Latin America by motorcycle, boat, train, anyway he could arrange, with his inhaler and pills; and on and on. (The analysis of the relationship between Che's mother and father and the asthma that plagued Che until death is terribly convincing.) Yet, in the end, Castaneda's man is still a hero, perhaps because he remains "in the niches reserved for cultural icons, for symbols of social uprisings that filter down deep into the soil of society." Castaneda's writing is uneven: the prologue, for instance, soars, but the writing in many of the chapters is plodding, which could be due to either editing or translating. And, too, the book is almost overwhelmed by the notes, as if to prove that this is the most researched of all the recent Che publications. But none of these shortcomings winds up tarnishing Companero's importance or its dark appeal. Bonnie Smothers


From Kirkus Reviews
In the second Guevara biography this year (after John Lee Anderson's Che Guevara, p. 343), chronicler of the Latin American left Casta¤eda (Political Science/New York Univ.) distinguishes himself from other biographers by stripping Guevara of myths while bowing to his role as the principal icon of the '60s. Despite the left leanings of his grandmother and mother, Guevara developed his political views slowly as an outgrowth of his sense of outrage at the conditions and treatment of the poor he witnessed throughout the region. Although disgusted with the US- backed ouster of Guatemalan reformist Arbenz, it was only after Guevara met Fidel Castro in Mexico in 1955 that his bookish attraction to Marxist-Leninism (and his preference for the Soviet Union over the US as a model of political development) gave way to a revolutionary commitment. Once he was entrenched in Castro's inner circle, Guevara's sympathies with the USSR rose and fell with exactly the opposite timing of Castro's. Casta¤eda notes that in battle, Guevara's impulsive strategic decisions required the collaboration of a highly organized commander such as Castro. Without him, Guevara's extreme egalitarianism, revolutionary zeal, and strong will proved insufficient for repeated victory. As this became clear, Casta¤eda suggests, Castro opted against a rescue mission for the ailing revolutionary in Bolivia, as Guevara had become more useful as a martyr than as a fighter. Finally, the author dismisses the popular myth that Guevara went down with his guns blazing--he was executed by Bolivian authorities. Along the way, Casta¤eda presents some interesting, if quirky, theories on Guevara's psychological development. For example, he postulates that asthma played a key role in the revolutionary's predilection for armed struggle: Combat produces adrenaline, providing natural relief from asthma, while the deliberation of ambiguities brought on attacks. A solid yet easy to read account, with ample footnotes to satisfy serious readers. (16 pages photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
By the time he was killed in the jungles of Bolivia, where his body was displayed like a deposed Christ, Ernesto "Che" Guevara had become a synonym for revolution everywhere from Cuba to the barricades of Paris. This extraordinary biography peels aside the veil of the Guevara legend to reveal the charismatic, restless man behind it.Drawing on archival materials from three continents and on interviews with Guevara's family and associates, Castaneda follows Che from his childhood in the Argentine middle class through the years of pilgrimage that turned him into a committed revolutionary. He examines Guevara's complex relationship with Fidel Castro, and analyzes the flaws of character that compelled him to leave Cuba and expend his energies, and ultimately his life, in quixotic adventures in the Congo and Bolivia. A masterpiece of scholarship, Companero is the definitive portrait of a figure who continues to fascinate and inspire the world over.



Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Spanish


From the Inside Flap
By the time he was killed in the jungles of Bolivia, where his body was displayed like a deposed Christ, Ernesto "Che" Guevara had become a synonym for revolution everywhere from Cuba to the barricades of Paris. This extraordinary biography peels aside the veil of the Guevara legend to reveal the charismatic, restless man behind it.

Drawing on archival materials from three continents and on interviews with Guevara's family and associates, Castaneda follows Che from his childhood in the Argentine middle class through the years of pilgrimage that turned him into a committed revolutionary. He examines Guevara's complex relationship with Fidel Castro, and analyzes the flaws of character that compelled him to leave Cuba and expend his energies, and ultimately his life, in quixotic adventures in the Congo and Bolivia. A masterpiece of scholarship, Companero is the definitive portrait of a figure who continues to fascinate and inspire the world over.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Thirty years ago, in the wilds of southeastern Bolivia, the life of Ernesto Guevara de la Serna came to a sudden, inglorious end - and an unquenchable myth was born. To this day, the mere mention of "Che" summons up a mental picture of the bearded revolutionary leader who was deeply and directly involved in the upheavals in Latin America and Africa during the 1950s and '60s. From his inclusion of such unique material as Che's teenage love letters to his detailed review of archives in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere, Castaneda provides the most balanced and thorough account of Che's personal and political endeavors - neither a whitewash nor an excoriation, but biography at its best. He places each stage of Che's career in its social, cultural, and political context, and he tackles thorny questions that are crucial to understanding the entire Socialist venture: Did the Soviets help or betray Che in the Congo and Bolivia? Did Fidel Castro wish him well or hope for his demise? And, perhaps most compelling of all, how did a blue-blooded, asthmatic doctor from Argentina transcend ideology and politics to become the icon known as Che?

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The second substantial biography of the nearly mythic "Che" this year (Jon Lee Anderson's Che Guevara was reviewed in PW on March 10), Castaeda's is neither as involving nor as reliable as its predecessor. Handicapped by a halting translation ("His entrancement with the project of revolution was tempered by the lucidity he had already displayed on several occasions..."), it reads in places like a treatise ("This analysis will consequently focus on the campaign's successive tribulations..."). Although Castaeda is informative on Latin American political radicalism, and fits Guevara, whom he views as decent, noble and even Christ-like, into its complexities, he sees "Che" as motivated by restlessness and an obsession to export revolution beyond Cuba. Castaeda, who teaches history at New York University, also targets Guevara's lifelong struggle with asthma as a motivating factor, goading him toward quickly achieved goals, yet disabling him during his futile guerrilla campaign in Bolivia. His account of how and why Guevara grew away from Castro after their success in Cuba and why he dabbled in distant radical movements in Africa and South America follows a path well trod by earlier biographers. This book is dated, too, by such recent events as the return of Guevara's mutilated body for burial in Cuba in July. Further, a biography that characterizes "Che" as "fluent to some extent" (in French) and describes the squalid circumstances of his execution in the Bolivian outback in 1967 as "a death worth reliving" is likely to be read with some exasperation. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Oct.)

Library Journal

With the partial opening of Cuban archives to foreign scholars and increased access to Cuban historical individuals come back to back two important new biographies of the Argentinean-born Cuban revolutionary leader and ideologue, Che Guevara. First there was American journalist Jon Lee Anderson's Che Guevara (LJ 4/15/97) and now this one, by one of Mexico's leading political writers and a professor of international affairs (New York Univ.). Though the two volumes cover similar territory, they are not the same. Anderson's volume is the larger and occasionally includes greater detail on aspects of Che's life, but Castaeda takes more of an academic approach and is better at placing Che in the context of Cuban and world history. Anderson writes journalistically, while Castaeda is perceptive and creative. This biography is an important addition to our understanding of Che and the Cuban revolution and will be valuable to any library interested in the history of the 20th century. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/97.]Mark L. Grover, Brigham Young Univ., Provo, Utah

Kirkus Reviews

In the second Guevara biography this year (after John Lee Anderson's Che Guevara, p. 343), chronicler of the Latin American left Castañeda (Political Science/New York Univ.) distinguishes himself from other biographers by stripping Guevara of myths while bowing to his role as the principal icon of the '60s.

Despite the left leanings of his grandmother and mother, Guevara developed his political views slowly as an outgrowth of his sense of outrage at the conditions and treatment of the poor he witnessed throughout the region. Although disgusted with the US- backed ouster of Guatemalan reformist Arbenz, it was only after Guevara met Fidel Castro in Mexico in 1955 that his bookish attraction to Marxist-Leninism (and his preference for the Soviet Union over the US as a model of political development) gave way to a revolutionary commitment. Once he was entrenched in Castro's inner circle, Guevara's sympathies with the USSR rose and fell with exactly the opposite timing of Castro's. Castañeda notes that in battle, Guevara's impulsive strategic decisions required the collaboration of a highly organized commander such as Castro. Without him, Guevara's extreme egalitarianism, revolutionary zeal, and strong will proved insufficient for repeated victory. As this became clear, Castañeda suggests, Castro opted against a rescue mission for the ailing revolutionary in Bolivia, as Guevara had become more useful as a martyr than as a fighter. Finally, the author dismisses the popular myth that Guevara went down with his guns blazing—he was executed by Bolivian authorities. Along the way, Castañeda presents some interesting, if quirky, theories on Guevara's psychological development. For example, he postulates that asthma played a key role in the revolutionary's predilection for armed struggle: Combat produces adrenaline, providing natural relief from asthma, while the deliberation of ambiguities brought on attacks.

A solid yet easy to read account, with ample footnotes to satisfy serious readers.