Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Tuesday 18 September 2012


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This week on nybooks.com: A philosopher’s defense of religion, the agony of the war in Syria, the real issues at stake in the Chicago teachers’ strike, Muslim protests and the rise of Salafi Islamism, Turkey’s grand new mosque, and does a book have to transcend its local origins to be good?
War

The Agony of Syria

Max Rodenbeck

Assad has ordered a sustained use of heavy weaponry against his own people that may be unmatched by any state in modern times. In trying to crush an initially peaceful pro-democracy movement that from its inception was backed by the vast majority of Syrians, the Assads’ army has wreaked devastation akin to that in Grozny or Jaffna or Sarajevo, only across swathes of a country with a far larger population.
Education

Two Visions for Chicago’s Schools

Diane Ravitch

According to most news reports, the teachers in Chicago are striking because they are lazy and greedy. Or because of a personality clash between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and union president Karen Lewis. Or because this is the last gasp of a dying union movement. Or because Emanuel wants a longer school day, and the teachers oppose it. None of this is true.
Beliefs

A Philosopher Defends Religion

Thomas Nagel

One of the things atheists tend to believe is that modern science is on their side, whereas theism is in conflict with science: that, for example, belief that God created man in his own image is inconsistent with scientific explanations provided by the theory of evolution. Alvin Plantinga turns this alleged opposition on its head.
Architecture and History

Turkey’s Towering Ambition

Hugh Eakin

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey's powerful prime minister, has gone further than any of his predecessors in moving away from the stridently anti-religious state that Atatürk created in the 1920s. Now he wants to build a huge Ottoman-style mosque on the highest point of land in Istanbul.
Borderlines

Art That Stays Home

Tim Parks

Choose any “great” novel, no more than a century old, from your own home culture; in fact, the nearer to home the better; get on the net and check with a couple of critics what major issues the book articulates, and what profound thoughts make it worthy of the international recognition it enjoys. Then try reading it. A hundred to one the simplicities and dogmatisms of criticism will dissolve…
The Lessons of 1979

Islamist Déjà Vu

Christian Caryl

Perhaps it’s helpful to recall the events of 1979 as we contemplate the tragic death of US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and the storming of American diplomatic buildings in Cairo, Sanaa, Tunis, and elsewhere in the Muslim world. Once again, a growing political force from within the Islamic world has dramatically and violently demonstrated its capacity to shape global politics.
Cuisine

Bug Appétit

Nathaniel Rich

The Crispy Cajun Crickets resemble spicy, toasted sunflower seeds. Red Beans and Yikes contains, in place of rice, blanched mealworms. The mildly acrid worms burst in your mouth like ripe currants.
Reading

Raymond Kennedy’s ‘Ride a Cockhorse’

Brooklyn Book Festival

Stephen Ruddy, director of Upright Citizens Brigade’s “Gravid Water,” directs a dramatic presentation of scenes from Raymond Kennedy’s 1991 novel. September 21 at BAM.
Art

Bronze

Geoffrey Wheatcroft

When we admire the beauty and intricacy of bronze sculptures in great museums we may not think much about the medium itself, but we can think harder at this astonishing exhibition.