Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

New on nybooks.com: On the future of Social Security, Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the battle over Islam in France, art and protest from the Syrian uprising, bombing the innocent, and an exemplary The Iceman Cometh. THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY UCONN

The Rocky Road to Taking It Easy Jeff Madrick There is a new and growing countermovement among Democrats that favors not merely refusing to cut any Social Security benefits but also increasing benefits. In this presidential primary season, a big question is whether it will take hold.   ADVERTISEMENT   In Balanchine’s Beautiful Forest Jennifer Homans For Balanchine, A Midsummer Night’s Dream was about Shakespeare and Mendelssohn, but it was also deeply personal; in his mind, life and art were never far apart.   France on Fire Mark Lilla It is hard to escape the feeling that a major battle is beginning and that it will overshadow economic and other issues here for months and years to come. And the battleground, as is typical in France, will be the schools.   ADVERTISEMENT   Syria’s Lost Spring Robyn Creswell What happened to the Arab Spring in Syria? Amid a wave of jihadist violence extending from Aleppo to Paris, it is sometimes hard to remember that many of the original participants aspired to something dramatically different.   Our Wars, Our Victims Charles Simic What Czeslaw Milosz said of the last century is unfortunately already true of this one: Woe to those who think they can save themselves without taking part in a tragedy.   A Flophouse Symphony Geoffrey O’Brien The texts of Eugene O’Neill’s plays are more like scores than self-sufficient works. To have a full sense of what The Iceman Cometh is, there is no way but to see it played.