GO READ

Long After Midnight at the Nino Bien: The Tango and Argentina Brian Winter William Heinemann, £16.99

Fresh out of college, Brian Winter picked a country at random to go and live in. Despite not having a word of the local language, he plumped for Argentina.

Shortly after his arrival, the country stumbled into a political crisis, and, with all hope of work and prosperity crumbling as fast as the elegant mansions of Buenos Aires, Winter decided to learn the tango.

What follows is a fascinating account of Argentina and its most famous dance, told from the perspective of the grizzled, almost gaucho, veterans of the dancefloor. Men like "El Tigre", who has travelled the world teaching dance, or "El Dandy", all macho elegance and disdain but who allegedly keeps a knife handy at all times. Winter struggles his way through the steps, falls hopelessly for one of his tutors and has to put up with the abuse of the veterans (who claim his dancing has "the virility of a fork").

This is a colourful, crafted and engaging account of a country whose history is reinvented whenever men sit around a table to share some drinks.

The Rough Guide to Buenos Aires   Rough Guides, £12.99

Buenos Aires is a seductive, elegant city with all the class of Paris and all the bravado of Rome. A mecca for immigrants, much like New York, its residents claim a variety of ancestries which makes for a thriving city and an extravagant experience. This is a good guide, with each central barrio getting its own chapter, and it has a solid section on the tango - it mentions most of the clubs from Brian Winter's book - but whether you'll have the courage to strut your stuff after reading it is another thing.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times