Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Weekend reading on nybooks.com: The integrity of Edward Snowden, when Begin and Sadat met at Camp David, the many pasts of the Bhagavad Gita, the case against paying ransoms, the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, and Picasso’s road to Guernica.   SPONSORED BY KNOPF DOUBLEDAY PUBLISHING GROUP   War and Peace in the Bhagavad Gita Wendy Doniger How did Indian tradition transform theBhagavad Gita into a bible for pacifism, when it began life as an epic argument persuading a warrior to engage in a battle, indeed, a particularly brutal, lawless, internecine war?   ADVERTISEMENT   When Israelis and Arabs for Once Agreed Roger Cohen Lawrence Wright’s Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David should be essential reading for the political pygmies who produced this year’s pointless killing in Gaza.   The Question of Edward Snowden David Bromwich Snowden is often called a “fanatic” or a “zealot,” a “techie” or a “geek,” by persons who want to cut him down to size. Usually these people have not listened to him beyond snippets lasting a few seconds on network news.   Also in the December 4 issue: Zoë Heller on Gone Girl, Alan Hollinghurst on Penelope Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Kolbert on Naomi Klein, Michael Tomasky on Leon Panetta, Martin Filler on Edwin Lutyens, David Cole on mass incarceration, Xan Smiley on Kim Philby, James Walton on Eleanor Catton, Helen Epstein on corruption in Zambia, and more   ADVERTISEMENT   Flight MH17: Will Russia Get Away With It? Amy Knight Russia has learned that there is a great deal it can get away with in Ukraine. Take the astonishingly muted reaction to the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17—arguably the most egregious act of aggression in the entire Ukrainian conflict thus far.   Ransoms: The Real Cost Graeme Wood We should consider the long-term effects of ransom payments, and whether they will endanger others while severely limiting the ability of journalists and aid workers to do their work. They most certainly will.   Picasso: The View from Florence Ingrid D. Rowland The exhibition “Picasso and Spanish Modernism” at Palazzo Strozzi presents the artist in all his infinite variety, spanning more than fifty years, from 1909 to 1963, along with work by artists who drew inspiration from him.   UPCOMING EVENTS ON THE NYR CALENDAR André Breton, Leonard Cohen, portraits from 18th-century Britain, post-Communist Polish film, the music of Richard Powers’s Orfeo, Andrew Wyeth’s windows, Richard Sexton’s photographs, and Joyce Carol Oates on inspiration