Seth Tobocman

Michael Steven Smith

He made a career of defending extreme acts against extreme power.

A Graphic Biography of Radical Attorney Leonard Weinglass

Len, a Lawyer in History

Michael Ratner

In compelling detail two leading U.S. civil rights attorneys recount the extraordinary life and deliberate killing of the world's most storied revolutionary: Ernesto Che Guevara. Michael Ratner and Michael Steven Smith survey the extraordinary trajectory of Che's career, from an early politicization recounted in the Motorcycle Diaries, through meetings with his companero Fidel Castro in Mexico, his vital role in the Cuban revolution, and his expeditions abroad to Africa and Latin America. But their focus is on Che's final days in Bolivia where, after months of struggle to spread the revolution begun in Havana, Che is wounded, captured and, soon after, executed. Bound and helpless, Che's last words to his killer, a soldier in the Bolivian Army, are "Remember, you are killing a man."Referencing internal U.S. government documentation, much of it never before published, Ratner and Smith bring their forensic skills as attorneys to analyze the evidence and present an irrefutable case that the CIA not only knew of and approved the execution, but was instrumental in making it happen. Cables from the agency disavowing any U.S. role in the murder were merely attempts to provide plausible deniability for the Johnson administration.The spirit of Che Guevara, as an icon and an inspiration, is as vibrant today as it ever was. News photographs of democracy protestors in the Middle East carrying his image have circulated the world in recent months. For anyone drawn to his remarkable life and its violent, unlawful end, Who Killed Che ? will engage, anger and educate.

How the CIA Got Away with Murder

Who Killed Che?

Debby Smith

Charlie Parker is an African Grey Parrot. He entered the life of the Smith family three decades ago when they first encountered him in a downtown Manhattan bird shop and found him so irresistible, they had to bring him home. Charlie is many things in the Smith family, articulating them all in an astonishingly diverse and colorful vocabulary. He can be demanding, squawking imperiously "Clean my cage" or "Want some water." He can be very direct, warning an aggressive business associate who had been yelling at Debby "I'm going to kick your ass, you sonofabitch" He can be mischievous, making meowing noises to a neighbor's confused dog in the elevator. He is a survivor, who ended up recovering on an IV after the collapse of the World Trade Center filled the Smiths neighboring apartment with toxic dust. He is often the entertainer, with a songbook that extends across the opening bars of "Home on the Range" and "The Yellow Rose of Texas." Most of the time he is affectionate, as when he hangs upside down against the side of the cage and asks for his tummy to be tickled. In hearing Charlie's tales in this charming book, we come to realize that parrots are intelligent, sociable and loving creatures, to an extent that, as the renowned avian scientist Professor Irene Pepperberg insists in her introduction, they cannot meaningfully be owned by humans but should rather be enjoyed as companions.

Our 30 Years with a Magical Bird

Parrot Tales

Se presentan aquí, publicados por primera vez, los archivos de la policía secreta de Estados Unidos sobre el legendario revolucionario Ernesto Che Guevara. En ellos se muestra cómo el FBI y la CIA vigilaban sus movimientos en Estados Unidos, África y América Latina. Con una introducción de los editores, este libro plantea una pregunta obvia: ¿por qué el FBI abrió este dossier? Los materiales presentados respaldan la sospecha de que las agencias norteamericanas de espionaje planeaban el asesinato de Guevara desde el inicio de los años sesenta, y permiten suponer que mantenían ese propósito cuando éste marchó a Bolivia en 1957.

The U.S. Political Police Dossier on the Latin American Revolutionary

Che Guevara and the FBI

The untold story of how the American government assassinated the world’s most famous revolutionary In compelling detail, two leading US civil rights attorneys recount the extraordinary life and deliberate killing of the world’s most storied revolutionary: Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Michael Ratner and Michael Steven Smith survey the extraordinary trajectory of Che’s career from an early politicization recounted in The Motorcycle Diaries, through meetings with his compañero Fidel Castro in Mexico, his vital role in the Cuban revolution, and his expeditions abroad to Africa and Latin America. But their focus is on Che’s final days in Bolivia where, after months of struggle to spread the revolution that had begun in Havana, Che was wounded, captured, and executed. Bound and helpless, Che’s last words to his killer, a soldier in the Bolivian Army, were: “Remember, you are killing a man.” Referencing internal US government documentation, much of it never before published, Ratner and Smith use their forensic skills as attorneys to analyze the evidence and present an irrefutable case that the CIA not only knew of and approved the execution, but was instrumental in making it happen. Cables from the agency disavowing any US role in the murder were merely attempts to provide plausible deniability for the Johnson administration. The spirit of Che Guevara, as an icon and an inspiration, is as vibrant today as it ever was. Protestors around the world continue to use his image. For anyone drawn to his remarkable life and its violent, unlawful end, How the CIA Killed Che will engage, anger, and educate. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

The Murder of a Revolutionary

How the CIA Killed Che

"Published for the first time are the U.S. secret police files on the legendary revolutionary Ernesto Guevara, showing how the FBI and CIA monitored his movements and activity in the United States, Mexico, Cuba, Africa and Latin America. A Freedom of Information Act request succeeded in obtaining the FBI file on Guevara, containing a wide selection of CIA and other secret documents. With an introduction by the editors, U.S. attorneys Michael Ratner and Michael Steven Smith, this book poses the obvious question: why did the FBI have such a dossier? 'Che is fairly intellectual for a Latino, ' reads a 1958 CIA document on Guevara during the period of the guerrilla war in Cuba. Watched closely after the 1959 revolution, Guevara's every public word was recorded and transmitted to the FBI and CIA, with particular note taken of his anti-U.S. statements. Later documents concern Guevara's disappearance from Cuba in 1965 and his resurfacing in Africa and Bolivia as a guerrilla leader. The sensational materials included in these secret files add to suspicions that U.S. spy agencies were plotting to assassinate Guevara when he was a Cuban government leader in the early 1960s and suggest that they were involved in the pursuit and murder of Guevara in Bolivia in 1967." "For all those interested in Che Guevara, Washington's relationship with Latin America and the workings of the U.S. spy agencies, this book is a significant new contribution."--Jacket.

Michael Steven Smith

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