Che Guevara is a symbol in the West, a representative of '60s counterculture and the face adorning the T-shirts of a million student radicals. But in the rest of the world, he is something else: a charismatic revolutionary who redrew the political map of Latin America and gave hope to those resisting colonialism everywhere.

Lucia Alvarez de Toledo comes from the same social milieu as Che Guevara. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, she was at school while he attended university, and then as a journalist, she closely followed his meteoric political rise. As a result, she is able to put him into context like few others among his biographers, dispelling popular misconceptions and revealing aspects of his life that others have missed. Based on interviews with Che's family and with those who knew him intimately, The Story of Che Guevara is a highly accessible biography that concentrates on the man rather than the icon. With the political developments in Latin America in the 21st century, Guevara's influence can be seen to be even greater now than it was during his lifetime.