Death of a Revolutionary: Che Guevara’s Last Mission

Originally written in 1970, this extensively researched account of, well, Che Guevara’s last mission offers insight into a man inseparable from, yet incapable of, living up to his radical ideals. After becoming a hero in the Cuban revolution, Guevara grew determined to create a Third World front against Western imperialism, traveling to Africa and then Bolivia to lead guerilla warfare. In 1967, when revolution didn’t take hold because it lacked the support and mobilization of the masses (a causality Guevara foretold in his writings on guerilla tactics), the Bolivian army captured and executed him. The author reflects on Guevara’s profound legacy in South American politics in the last 40 years; more than anything, though, one is left wondering how the world would have been different had he lived.