Marvin Gaye, the Venona Project and Other Letters to the Editor – The New York Times

Spacing Out

To the Editor:

I found it surprising, and profoundly distressing, that none of the accomplished authors and reviewers of the four books on space travel (Walter Isaacson on Elon Musk, Elliot Ackerman on Richard Branson, and Mark Atwood Lawrence on John Glenn and John Kennedy, July 25) questioned the delusion that the future of humanity lies in space.

It doesnt. It lies on Earth. Space may be fun for a few. But for the rest of us, there is no Plan(et) B. Tragedy awaits us unless we devote all our efforts to preserving our habitat a far more profound challenge than the conquest of space. All these authors and reviewers know that. They owed it to us to acknowledge it.

Richard L. Abel Santa Monica, Calif.

To the Editor:

While reading through the fascinating collection of reviews on the theme of space exploration, which largely ignored ecology, inequality and what economists call opportunity cost, I kept playing two classic songs in my head from half a century ago, still sadly more relevant than ever: Gil Scott-Herons Whitey on the Moon and the opening lines of Marvin Gayes immortal Inner City Blues: Rockets, moon shots / Spend it on the have-nots.

Sometimes poets and songwriters raise questions even the most brilliant scientists and businessmen might well ponder. As for space aliens, they likely took a long look at us, turned around and went back home long ago.

Steve HeiligSan Francisco

To the Editor:

In his review of Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy (Aug. 1), Joseph Dorman states that Ethel not only knew of her husband Juliuss spying for the Soviet Union but aided him at times, including in the recruitment of her brother [David Greenglass] and sister-in-law [Ruth].

For this claim, Dorman relies on strong evidence from Soviet archives. But this evidence is problematic at best. It consists of a cable written by a Soviet intelligence agent on Sept. 20, 1944, two versions of which exist. One, intercepted by U.S. intelligence, was decrypted and translated as part of the top-secret Venona project. It says that Julius and his wife recommend Ruth as an intelligent and clever girl. The other, a translation of the same cable made directly from the copy in the Soviet archives, does not refer to Ethel at all.

The full texts of both versions are reprinted in Final Verdict: What Really Happened in the Rosenberg Case, by Walter Schneir, with a preface and afterword written by me.

Miriam SchneirMontclair, N.J.

To the Editor:

When Laurie Colwin, the subject of Lisa Zeidners essay (July 25), died in 1992, I was 32. I was 16 years younger than she was, with a baby daughter and a marriage that unbeknown to me was about to implode. She was my friend, even though she never knew it.

I longed to sit with her at her tiny apartment table and eat her famous roasted chicken. Her voice was so conversational, so direct and funny and true; her fictional friends were like the friends I had, loyal and exasperating and there for you through thick or thin. I felt her loss like that of a longtime pen pal, even though our correspondence was one-sided. I came to her food writing after her death, leafing through my mothers old issues of Gourmet magazine.

My baby daughter is a grown woman of 30 now, a writer and a cook who just bought her first home. I found a second copy of Home Cooking on my bookshelves and am going to give it to her along with a copy of Zeidners essay. I hope Colwins writing will speak to her as it did to me about cooking, about family and about joy.

Alison LawrenceToronto

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Marvin Gaye, the Venona Project and Other Letters to the Editor - The New York Times