The Motorcycle Diaries (book)

The Motorcycle Diaries
Author	Ernesto "Che" Guevara
Language	Spanish (later translated into English)
Genre	Memoir
Publisher	Verso Books
Publication date	May 17, 1995
Publication place	South America
Pages	166
ISBN	978-1859849712

The Motorcycle Diaries (Spanish: Diarios de motocicleta) is a posthumously published memoir of the Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. It traces his early travels, as a 23-year-old medical student, with his friend Alberto Granado, a 29-year-old biochemist. Leaving Buenos Aires, Argentina, in January 1952 on the back of a sputtering single cylinder 1939 Norton 500cc dubbed La Poderosa ("The Mighty One"), they desired to explore the South America they only knew from books.^[1] During the formative odyssey Guevara is transformed by witnessing the social injustices of exploited mine workers, persecuted communists, ostracized lepers, and the tattered descendants of a once-great Inca civilization. By journey's end, they had travelled for a "symbolic nine months" by motorcycle, steamship, raft, horse, bus, and hitchhiking, covering more than 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) across places such as the Andes, the Atacama Desert, and the Amazon River Basin.

The book has been described as a classic coming-of-age story: a voyage of adventure and self-discovery that is both political and personal.^[2] Originally marketed by Verso as "Das Kapital meets Easy Rider",^[3] The Motorcycle Diaries has been a New York Times bestseller several times.^[4]

^ On the Trail of the Young Che Guevara by Rachel Dodes, The New York Times, December 19, 2004
^ Letter from the Americas; Che Today? More Easy Rider Than Revolutionary by Larry Rohter, The New York Times, May 26, 2004
^ Doreen Carvajal (30 April 1997). "30 Years After His Death, Che Guevara Has New Charisma". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
^ NYT bestseller list: No. 38 Paperback Nonfiction on 2005-02-20, No. 9 Nonfiction on 2004-10-07 and on more occasions

[on_the_trail-1] On the Trail of the Young Che Guevara by Rachel Dodes, The New York Times, December 19, 2004

[lettersNYT-2] Letter from the Americas; Che Today? More Easy Rider Than Revolutionary by Larry Rohter, The New York Times, May 26, 2004

[review_times-3] Doreen Carvajal (30 April 1997). "30 Years After His Death, Che Guevara Has New Charisma". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 April 2008.

[4] NYT bestseller list: No. 38 Paperback Nonfiction on 2005-02-20, No. 9 Nonfiction on 2004-10-07 and on more occasions

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