Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

 

Sunday reading: From the Review’s May 26 issue, Anthony Gottlieb on the life and philosophy of David Hume, Charlie Savage on the slippery truth of former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden, and a poem by Jane Yeh. On the NYR Daily, Elizabeth Drew on Donald Trump’s long game, and Jenny Uglow on Russian portraits. Sponsored by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

 

Who Was David Hume? Anthony Gottlieb In his own day, and into the 19th century, his philosophical writings were generally seen as perverse and destructive. What explains his appeal today?

 

The Rhinos Jane Yeh We meet under the stars, touch noses In the dark. Our secret greeting.

General Hayden’s Offensive Charlie Savage The former NSA and CIA director’s memoir is filled with omissions, half-truths, and misleading framings.

 

Also in the May 26 issue: Linda Greenhouse on sex discrimination, Nathaniel Rich on the American lighthouse, Adam Hochschild on prisons, Freeman Dyson on Fang Lizhi, Diane Johnson on Edmund White, Jeff Madrick on Ted Kennedy, and more

 

Trump’s Long Game Elizabeth Drew Trump is a master simplifier, which is very useful in politics. His message is more sophisticated than it appears.

 

Astonishing Russian Faces Jenny Uglow These portraits conjure up a tortured yet astoundingly vibrant cultural life covering fifty years, from the last tsars to the revolution and beyond.

Calendar Lahore Literary Festival Asia Society, New York Black Mountain College Hammer Museum, Los Angeles Botticelli Reimagined V&A Museum, London Stravinsky’s Agon  Saratoga Performing Arts Center Ousmane Sembène’s Black Girl BAMcinématek, Brooklyn