In her 67 years at a New York law firm, Sylvia Bloom was known for taking the subway to work every day until she retired at age 96. What no one – including her family – knew, was that she amassed more than $9 million on her secretary’s salary.

That secret came out recently when her estate made a posthumous $6 million donation to a local charity that offers college scholarships to needy students. Ms. Bloom’s story is wonderful, showing the savvy of an independent, Depression-era woman who copied her bosses’ investments. But it also speaks something very American: Americans across all income levels have long given generously. “This is different from the patterns in any other country,” writes the Philanthropy Roundtable.

Since the Great Recession, however, something has shifted. Middle- and low-income Americans are giving less. Giving continues to go up, thanks to the rich, but there’s a social question here. Smaller-scale donors tend to give closer to home – to projects that might not have a high profile or slick fundraising campaigns. The result of those smaller donations has been good works woven seamlessly into virtually every community nationwide by the generosity of the community itself.

"Aristocratic societies always contain ... a small number of very powerful and wealthy citizens each of whom has the ability to perform great enterprises single-handed,” wrote Alexis de Tocqueville in 1840. What made America exceptional, he added, was its citizens’ zeal to band together in common purpose and support. In other words, its Sylvia Blooms. 

Here are our five stories for today, including a look at the pull of populist thinking, the hope of a Baghdad renaissance, and the debate over what art actually is.