Nick Caistor has lived for several years in Buenos Aires as well as
visiting it often over the past three decades. He has reported on
Argentina for the BBC and is a translator as well as the author of
several books on Latin America. The architect Le Corbusier once
called Buenos Aires the capital of an imaginary empire . From its
foundation in the sixteenth century, Argentina's main city has been
a place of the imagination as well as the scene of many striking
historical events. From foreign invasions to more modern-day coups
d etat and dictatorships, the city's turbulent history has been
paralleled by a vibrant popular culture born out of the hardships
of immigration and longing for a lost homeland. This cultural guide
looks at the impact of history and the efforts of men and women to
build a city that would fulfil their dreams, as well as bringing
today s Buenos Aires vividly to life for the visitor. From the new
skyscrapers along the front of the huge river of silver to the
picturesque portside Las Boca where hundreds of thousands of
immigrants first faced a new continent, Buenos Aires has created
its own legend, lived out today in tango bars, on football pitches,
in cafes where intense debates take place, or people simply watch
the ever-changing parade of passing inhabitants. Nick Caistor takes
the reader to the insider s Buenos Aires. He shows how the past has
shaped its streets, how Argentine politics has left its mark on
almost every corner, how each wave of new inhabitants has added to
the city s cultural mix. He explores the complex legacy of Spanish
colonialism and Peronism as well as considering the city's
representation by writers from Darwin and Humboldt to Borges and
Cortazar. Analysing the foundations of Porteno culture, he reveals
a city obsessed by nostalgia yet rich in music, dance and
spectacle.
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