Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Weekend reading on nybooks.com: The Review’s November 20 issue is out, with Jed Rakoffon how the criminal justice system sends innocent people to prison, Diane Ravitch on the myth of Chinese “super schools,” and Sarah Kerr on the history of Wonder Woman. Glenn Shepardreviews the autobiography of a Yanomami shaman, Leo Rubinfien presents photographs of Asian cities, James Romm looks at artifacts from Greek-ruled Egypt, and Christopher Benfey explores fear-mongering and witch-hunting. Happy Halloween.   THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY THE BRITISH LIBRARY

Why the Innocent Plead Guilty Jed S. Rakoff Our criminal justice system is almost exclusively a system of plea bargaining, negotiated behind closed doors and with no judicial oversight. The outcome is very largely determined by the prosecutor alone.   ADVERTISEMENT   The Myth of Chinese Super Schools Diane Ravitch The United States is already ensnared in the testing obsession that has trapped China. It is not too late to escape.   Wonder Woman: The Weird, True Story Sarah Kerr Jill Lepore’s new book argues that the superheroine has all along been a kind of “missing link” in American feminism.   ADVERTISEMENT   The Voice of the Shaman Glenn H. Shepard Jr. Davi Kopenawa’s The Falling Sky is an autobiography and a passionate appeal for the rights of indigenous people, but most of all it is an elegy to oral tradition and the power of the spoken word.   My Asian Road Leo Rubinfien The view changed constantly, but what hardly varied was the sequence of long walks each day, through mazes of unknown streets, hoping to see something unfold.   When the Greeks Ruled Egypt James Romm Religious traditions blended and metamorphosed all across the Hellenistic world. But Egypt under Greek rule was the primary laboratory for syncretic experiments.   By Horror Haunted Christopher Benfey My wife and I moved to a new house a few years back. The street address is 666. I warned her that Halloween might be lively…