Well written, Anderson doesn't hold back in revealing a Che who ultimately only cared about himself. ( )

A big, fat, comprehensive, all-encompassing, get-your-teeth-around-it biography. Well written and researched and not for the faint hearted. ( )

This is the essential portrait of the life of Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Anyone who is interested in learning who the man really was should read this detailed and balanced biography. It goes beyond the religious idealism of his supporters and the hasty condemnation of his detractors. It presents Che as he was, a noble human being with great qualities, faults, and aspirations. Many might find the extensive detail of this work exhausting, but it is essential to fully understand Guevara, the man, in all his complexity.

Beautiful, staggering, and bittersweet. ( )

Anderson's even-handed treatment of a controversial individual in world history is an enjoyable, even easy read. He contextualizes Guevara's life with good information about his family and the political times during his development. ( )

The only thing that kept me from giving this book 5 stars was its length. Anderson, who had unprecedented access to Che's diaries, as well as the diaries and interviews of his friends and his family, writes a ridiculously detailed bio of the modern world's most visible, least understood character. Anderson follows Che through his childhood, med school, many trips through the americas and continues to document his revolutionary time in Cuba, the Congo and back into South America. He creates a human Che who was so didicated to his utopian goals, no matter how horrible his means to attain them.

Anderson shows Che was neither the perfect rebel for the poor proles, nor the horrible monster that the west created. ( )