Argentina history books?

[AndrewWoodward]

So I've realized I know shockingly little about the history here. I went to the bookstore today to try to buy a few books, but I got overwhelmed and ended up buying nothing. So does anyone have any book recommendations? In Spanish is fine...

No specific criteria, just interesting and well written. Can be modern history or older. Broad look, or specific event. I'm looking to buy a handfull...


And for a separate but related question, is there a "language" bookstore here? I don't know if that makes sense, but I guess I was expecting the bigger stores to have language sections. I don't know exactly what I'm looking for - I was really just hoping to look around. But specifically books on castellano rioplatense - stuff that I figured would be harder to find in the states. But apparently not so much...

 

[fedecc]

For novelized history and somewhat partisan authors, anything from Felipe Pigna, Pacho O´donnel or Ignacio García Hamilton. I dont particularly like this authors very much. They are more like lawyers of history rather than historians (in they way they only gather evidence to support their previous assumptions, and usually ignore the rest) but they are very popular and, granted, easier to read.

For more serious and complex readings, i recommend Tulio Halperin Donghi, José Romero, Jose María Rosas and Felix Luna. From this i find Halperin Donghi the most interesting, but he can be very dense in his writing.

 

[nlaruccia]

Go to Parque Rivadavia or any book fair and buy high school text books, 3rd, 4th and 5th year Argentinean history plan 6680 for the "bachiller". They're probably the most accurate and unbiased history books you'll find. Good luck!

 

[Roxana]

Tomas Eloy Martinez, Marcos Aguinis, Osvaldo Bayer, Jorge Lanata y Natalio Botana. You might find books sold out in bookstores at "bibliotecas populares" to borrow for a week.

 

[tangobob]

"A Brief History of the Argentines" by Felix Luna.
I bought my copy from Tempo, on Borges betwene Honduras and Salvador.
It is very informative and Felix Luna is a very well Respected Historian.

 

[Amargo]

"A Brief History of the Argentines" by Felix Luna.

Felix Luna is probably the most neutral of all. He was a proper historian.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

I was given a copy of 'La Nación 135: testimonio de trés siglos' which is a large format paperback book produced by 'La Nación' in 2005. I have no idea if it is available new anymore, though it might be obtainable from La Nación's offices or second hand, but apart from a number of essays from notable writers which review those 135 years, there are facimilies of the pages of the paper when it was reporting significant news. It's a fairly lightweight way of familiarising myself with the last century or so and I like it.

 

[jjc]

I suggest to you a nice tv show about argentina history, it is titled "algo habran hecho por la historia argentina".

Is in Spanish and you can find it on youtube. here are the links of the cap 1 season 1 :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmA_GL0Eyak 1/4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzYEvo4BqUQ 2/4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFck7xoK4wg&feature=related 3/4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv7AC1lNx8A&feature=related 4/4

 

[marksoc]

And... you can go to the new Museo del Bicentenario (free!) behind the Casa Rosada. And also to the Casa Rosada itself. And to the Casa del Bicentenario in Riobamba between Avda. Cordoba and Avda. Santa Fe.

 

[va2ba]

Felix Luna's book, "A Brief History of the Argentinians" is a great place to start. He gives us an overview of the history from the founding of BA through to the years of Perón. He doesn't go into a lot of details, but he does cover a lot. I highly recommend it.