The Bolivian Diary

Looking back on the life of his revolutionary comrade Che Guevara in his introduction to the Bolivian Diary, Fidel Castro claims that "rarely, if ever, in history has one man's image, name and example spread so rapidly and so completely". Ernesto Guevara de la Sema is the ultimate revolutionary, an icon who spawned a million T-shirts, and whose death in 1967 whilst fermenting revolution in Bolivia enshrined him as a martyr of the radical Left. In his short life Che Guevara led military revolutions in Mexico, the Congo and, most famously, Cuba, before heading to Bolivia in 1966 to establish a guerrilla movement in an attempt to overthrow the Bolivian military dictatorship.

His Bolivian Diary, first published in Cuba in 1968, is the remarkable and ultimately tragic first-hand account of Che's formation of a tiny band of revolutionaries, his attempt to proselytise the local peasants, his skirmishes with the Bolivian army, and his final shootout and cold-blooded execution at the hands of the military in October 1967. Stripped of the romantic idealism usually associated with Che, the diary is a sobering account of the drudgery, fear and monotony of guerrilla warfare. Much of the diary is taken up with the preoccupations of basic survival in the primitive conditions of the Bolivian mountains, whilst playing a tense and often ineffective game of hit and run with the Bolivian army. There are some wonderful moments, such as Che breaking off from military preparations to remember that, "I must write some letters to Sartre and Bertrand Russell..." or commandeering a jeep and running it on the urine of his guerrillas. Ultimately this is a tough, uncompromising portrait of a ruthlessly disciplined and single-minded man, relishing a conflict which "gives us the opportunity to turn ourselves into revolutionaries, the highest state of the human species". --Jerry Brotton

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Insights into the man, the guerilla - Rated
Che excites debate. His image, his actions, his reputation and his motivations are still argued over forty years after his death in 1967. Even the authenticity of these diaries was questioned when first published in Cuba, after all, how did they survive, when their author didn't?

We all know the ending Che was shot by the CIA backed Bolivian military - it sounds sinister, but weren't all South American military backed by the CIA in the Sixties. They record Che's last campaign, fought in the Bolivian cloud forests they tell a story of the mundanity of a guerilla fighter's life. They could be the diaries of a lieutenant, in any one of several modern wars, leading a company of men in enemy territory with only their wits to survive. There is plenty of mud, near misses, misfortune and the leader's concerns about how to hold together a group of unsupported, under-fed and increasingly depleted fighters, whilst surrounded by hostile forces and local people who don't understand or are unsympathetic to their presence.

What sets the book apart is the insights it gives into the mind of Che, what made him tick, what drove him on. He emerges as a fighter with a cause, a man who knew what he believed in, was willing to kill for it and ultimately die for it. For me Che comes across as neither hero, nor villain, just a man fighting for a cause, his folly was few others in Bolivia shared it with him. Che was killed by the logistical failings of his guerilla campaign, combined with a lack of support from the people touched by it. Che is clear about these failings in the diaries and it's a measure of the man that despite them he continued to fight for what he believed.

A must. - Rated
For those of us not used to reading historical accounts & text books (at least since our student days) or anyone who his only a reader of novels, this isn't the easiest of books to pick up & read. However as a text and historical dicument about one of the most compelling and magical figures of modern history, this book is an absolute must.
I recently visited Cuba and was fascinated by the imagery and importance attached to Che. It was this visit and the obvious profound effect that this man had on an entire culture that kindled my desire to learn more.
I would suggest to anyone to read a bigraphy first, but the tale of suffering, sacrifice, bravery and commitment told through Che's eye's puts the whole story into focus. Well worth the read for anyone interested in the man.

A Great Book on a Great Man - Rated
This book was f a n tastic. I was recommended it by my friens Sean and Brett. They read it and liked it so much that they bought motorbikes and che guevara hats. I respect Che guevara very much because I don't think I could do a revolution myself

An insight into the mind of a twentieth century icon. - Rated
This diary is both an important historical document and an insight into the mind of a twentieth century icon. After his failure in the Congo, Major Ernesto Guevara was determined to suceed in his native South America. He was doomed to failure from the start. His diary shows the terrible hardships endured by him and his revolutionaries. From illness and starvation, to the deaths of comrades and friends, Che's diary documents it all. A mixture of the emotional and the ordinary. Che Guevara was assassinated by the CIA backed Bolivian army; but his death was only the beginning of the legend. Although this version doesn't include the diaries of Che's comrades it remains a must for all those wishing to find the real Che Guevara.