Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Weekend reading on nybooks.com: Food in literature, film, and art, how China is reckoning with its violent past, Ebola and trust in Liberia, the “clear and terrible voice” of Elena Ferrante, and a photographer’s Brooklyn inspiration.

Seduced by the Food on Your Plate Patricia Storace Sandra M. Gilbert’s new book is an imaginative culinary survey, a kind of personal and intellectual cabinet of treasures.   ADVERTISEMENT   China’s Brave Underground Journal Ian Johnson Part I: On the group of writers behind Remembrance, an unofficial publication that deals with one of China’s most sensitive issues: its history Part II: On the long-censored case of a group of elite schoolgirls who tortured their vice-principal to death in 1966 during the Cultural Revolution   ADVERTISEMENT   Italy’s Great, Mysterious Storyteller Rachel Donadio Elena Ferrante’s anonymity has one significant effect: the teller recedes for the sake of the tale.   How ISIS Rules Sarah Birke In a central square in Raqqa, heads are posted on spikes with a sign above them indicating what transgression was involved. The square used to be called Sahat al-Naem, or paradise, but is now dubbed with the rhymingSahat al-Jaheem, or hell; the doctor I met told me she took a route to work that took three times as long just to avoid it.   Ebola in Liberia: An Epidemic of Rumors Helen Epstein When the Health Ministry requested $1.5 million in emergency funds to fight Ebola last spring, many Liberians assumed this was just another scam to steal more foreign aid.   A Beautiful Mosaic of Filth Michael Greenberg On Steven Hirsch’s photographs of the toxic waters in Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal