In this episode, Neil, Niki, and Natalia discuss the history of #GivingTuesday.
Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:
- Giving Tuesday has become as familiar a Thanksgiving holiday ritual as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Natalia referred to political philosopher Rob Reich’s book, Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Betterand his Washington Post opinion piece; Niki referenced this Vox article.
In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:
- Natalia shared Ed Yong’s Atlantic article, “Even Health-Care Workers With Long Covid Are Being Dismissed.”
- Neil discussed the ESPN.com feature, “Hello, Heisman!”
- Niki recommended Martha S. Jones’ New York Times essay, “Enslaved To a Founding Father, She Sought Freedom in France.”

![A lantern slideshows four overlapping illustrations of the Earth depicting its tilt at different time periods in the past, present and future. Dates represented are 13000 BC, 5544 BC, 1921 AD, 2296AD. Handwritten in blue ink at bottom left corner of plate is the text 'G53 CLW [illegible] Aug '22'.](https://i0.wp.com/publicseminar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Wragge_Earth.jpg?fit=768%2C749&ssl=1)










