Buenos Aires: A Cosmopolitan City at War

Abstract

The first impression one experiences is arriving in a great European city. […] What city does Buenos Aires evoke in our memories? […] if you want, London, for its narrow streets full of banking houses, its match sellers, and the black helmets of its policemen; Vienna, for its two-horse carriages; all of Spain, for its houses with smooth facades and latticed windows, […] New York, for its shoe shiners; Paris, for its beautiful Avenida de Mayo, its spacious sidewalks, and its cafés with terraces. […] That vast port, with its broad and clean docks resembling those of a German port, […] the bustle of the high commerce streets, that of Florida Street […] with its Parisian department stores; […] the grand offices and busy banks, which […] make you feel as if you were transported in your imagination to the heart of the City of London or Hamburg, all of this […] constitutes the great European city, a mixture of the capitals and commercial metropolises of Europe