Che’s Afterlife Author To Speak At BA Book Fair

Michael Casey, author of the new book Che’s Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image, will be at the Buenos Aires book fair this Friday to present the book.

In the book, Casey, an Australian-American who has lived in Argentina since 2003, offers a biography not of Che Guevarra the man but of the famous photo of the revolutionary.

Readers will find that the story of the iconic image, which is arguably the most reproduced photo of all time, tells them more about themselves and the world they live in than about Che himself.

Michael is my boss at Dow Jones here in Buenos Aires, so ethical prudence probably prohibits me from writing my own review of the book here. But there’s nothing to prohibit me from citing the words of Michiko Kakutani, the brutally critical Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times book reviewer, who described it as a “fascinating, bracing and keenly observed book.”

Kakutani offered the following:

“Although newspaper and magazine articles have traversed this ground before, none have done so with the thoroughness and globe-trotting ardor of “Che’s Afterlife.” Mr. Casey has written a book that is not only a cultural history of an image, but also a sociopolitical study of the mechanisms of fame. It is a book about how ideas travel and mutate in this age of globalization, how concepts of political ideology have increasingly come to be trumped by notions of commerce and cool and chic, and how the historical Che Guevara gave way, post-mortem, to a host of other Ches: St. Che, said to possess the ability to perform miracles; Chesucristo, a Christ-like figure revered for his ideals, not his advocacy of violence; an entrepreneurial Che, promoting the lesson “that individuals should honestly strive to produce their utmost for the good of all”; and the Rock ’n’ Roll Che, more representative of youthful anti-authoritarianism than of any political dogma.”

Kakutani’s power is such that her favorable review sent sales of Che’s Afterlife soaring within minutes after the review was published. On Monday evening Che’s Afterlife was ranked #210,000 in sales at Amazon.com. By Tuesday evening the book was ranked # 376.

Jon Lee Anderson, author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life (which is arguably the best biography of Che the man), described Che’s Afterlife this way: “In this entertaining and provocative book, Michael Casey takes us into the realm where Che’s martyrdom ends and his global branding begins. Che’s Afterlife is also a smart and sassy comment about our life and times; well worth the read.”

Presentation Details:

When: Friday, April 24, 3pm and again at 4pm
Where: Buenos Aires Book Fair, La Rural,
U.S. Embassy Stand (No. 2122, 2033 Pabellón Amarillo)
Language: The book presentation will be in Spanish, with a reading and Q&A in Spanish and English

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