Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Weekend reading on nybooks.com: The campaign to censor “offensive” books, the tenacity of the Soviet past in Russia, and the growing power of inherited wealth. Also chaos in Iraq, a novel about the body and the self, and “real time” in documentary film. Plus Muriel Spark’s advice on how to write a letter. THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY KNOPF DOUBLEDAY PUBLISHING GROUP

India: Censorship by the Batra Brigade Wendy Doniger To debate a book you disagree with is what scholarship is about. To ban or burn a book you regard as blasphemous is what fascist bigotry is about.   ADVERTISEMENT   Let the Past Collapse on Time! Vladimir Sorokin In recent opinion polls, almost half of those surveyed consider Stalin to have been a “good leader.” The Soviet Union may have collapsed geographically and economically, but ideologically it survives in the hearts of millions.   Why We’re in a New Gilded Age Paul Krugman We haven’t just gone back to 19th-century levels of income inequality, we’re also on a path back to “patrimonial capitalism,” in which the commanding heights of the economy are controlled not by talented individuals but by family dynasties.   A new series featuring the work of poets from around the world   ADVERTISEMENT   Iraq: The Road to Chaos Ned Parker There had been relative stability since the spring of 2008, when Prime Minister Maliki set out to disband the Shiite militias. Now, as it prepares for its first national election in four years, Iraq is falling apart again.   My Carcass and Myself James Gleick What if a person could survive past his bodily death, to be reconstituted in another form? That is the question Marcel Theroux explores in his wondrous, uncanny novelStrange Bodies.   Eleven Visits to the Sky J. Hoberman The new documentary Manakamana is a hypnotic and serene motion picture that transports the viewer to a mountaintop Hindu temple, as well as back in time to the medium’s dawn.   How to Write a Letter Muriel Spark In the middle of a house-move I came across many books I didn’t know I had. Busy as I was, I couldn’t resist sitting down among the packing-cases to read How to Write a Good Letter: A Complete Guide to the Correct Manner of Letter Writing by John Barter (London, W. & G. Foyle, 1912).   April 21: “The Future of Human Rights,” a conference with Stephen Breyer and others.