Here is a quote from an anonymous reader on Ernesto “Che” Guevara (1928-67), who was was captured and killed in the mountains of Bolivia in 1967 at the age of 39:
…for all his violent exploits, Che seems to have accomplished relatively little. His campaigns in Africa and Bolivia were utter failures, and he wore out his welcome in Cuba not too long after the Revolution. In fact, it’s hard to identify anyone in this book who ended up better off as a result of his actions. Perhaps this book documents something we’ve known all along: that Che’s romantic image dwarfs his actual accomplishments, and that the myth was much bigger than the man.
Another reviewer from BookList explains her fascination with Che, and how she:
…can identify with Che’s concern for the poor and hungry, even if that identification is tempered in [her] rush to store up goods, even if giving alms to the poor is more fashionable than taking a heroic stance to elevate them.Judging by the results for all of Che’s liberal “concern” and his murderous “heroics,” it looks like he has accomplished as much for the “poor” as the lefitist hypocrites who approve of his ends but not his “heroic” means. Judging by the results it would have been better if he never lived. For the life of a real hero see the Academy Award nominated documentary Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life.