Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

This week on nybooks.com: Garry Wills on pretend presidential candidates, Elizabeth Drewon Congress and the Iran deal, Martin Filler on an architect of technical finesse and lightness, and William Dalrymple on the great civilization of India. Plus Peter Matthiessen on drilling in the Arctic, and Helen Epstein on a horrific lead paint experiment in Baltimore.   Don’t Run, Elizabeth! Garry Wills Elizabeth Warren has better things to do than the ventures into lyrical nonsense that running for president entails.   ADVERTISEMENT   Iran: The Deal on the Deal Elizabeth Drew There was much self-congratulating last week when the Senate adopted the Corker-Cardin proposal that would allow Congress to vote on whether to approve a final nuclear deal with Iran. But the amendment was actually quite circumscribed in its reach and import.   Frei Otto’s Airborne Architecture Martin Filler The work of Frank Gehry has shown how far computer tools can bring the building art, in his audacious recasting of architecture from rectilinear convention to freeform exuberance. One of his most significant precursors will be awarded the Pritzker Prize this week.   ADVERTISEMENT   The Great & Beautiful Lost Kingdoms William Dalrymple It is now increasingly clear that between the fourth and twelfth centuries the influence of India in Asia was comparable to the influence of Greece in Aegean Turkey and Rome, and then in the rest of Europe in the early centuries BC.   Alaska: Big Oil & the Whales Peter Matthiessen When one considers the more than four thousand spills—over one a day—recorded by the oil industry in its land operations in the last decade, and keeping in mind that offshore hazards are far greater, the inevitable accidents seem certain to accumulate into an ongoing and permanent calamity. (2007)   Lead Poisoning: The Ignored Scandal Helen Epstein In 1993, a slum landlord in Baltimore rented an apartment to a single mother and her son, Max. A few days after they moved in, Max’s mother was invited to participate in a study comparing how well different home renovation methods protected children from lead poisoning. (2013)