Podcast Episode
Episode 86: The Popeye Ripple Effect
The best selling video game of all time didn't come about by accident. There's an entire history that starts with playing cards and tattoos and…
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Episode Library
Start with something familiar. Follow the path wherever history takes it.
Podcast Episode
Episode 85: The Conversation: 1/2 Cup of American History
We're looking at some of the wow moments from the last episode, and in discussing it we got a chance to connect Fannie Farmer, the…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 84: 1/2 Cup of American History
What can a recipe tell us about American history? A lot more than what’s for dinner.In this episode of Tracing the Path, we follow the…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 83: The Conversation: Pepsi Cracked the Iron Curtain
Today we're looking at some of the wow! moments from the Pepsi episode. Specifically we're going deeper on the Pepsi Refresh Superbowl campaign, Pepsi's Navy,…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 82: When Pepsi Cracked the Iron Curtain
The Cold War wasn't fought only with missiles.It was also fought with supermarkets, television cameras, vodka, and a simple paper cup filled with Pepsi.This month,…
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Episode 81: The Hero at the Edge of the Map
No matter what hero story you read or hear, the location it takes place will be in total alignment with the era it was written.…
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Episode 80: One Step Leads to Another
Today's episode is Part 3 of our Origin Story Series about the start of Tracing The Path. Today's story touches on Russia's Yuri Andropov, Mark…
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Episode 79: The Conversation: Yeltsin's Grocery Revolution
In today's episode we discussion the evolution of grocery stores, as discussed in Episode 78. Life in Romania, automatic sliding doors, Walgreens lighting, Rachel's dads…
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Episode 78: Yeltsin's Grocery Revolution
When Boris Yeltsin came to the United States in 1989 to speak, visit with the President and see the Statue of Liberty, his entire outlook…
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Episode 77: The Conversation: World's Best Music
Are those really the world's most famous tunes? Rachel and I discuss the "easter eggs" of the show, whether they are songs and more ludicrousness. …
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Episode 76: The World's Most Famous Music
Can you believe the world's most famous music is 3,000 years old? Not necessarily from the first note written, but from the idea that created…
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Episode 75: The Conversation: The Real Forrest Gump
We're taking "the cutting room floor" to a new level. Rachel and I go over all the stories we couldn't fit into "The Real Forrest…
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Episode 74: The Real Life Forrest Gump
Before there was a movie, there was a man who lived it. We all know the story of the accidental hero who wandered through history,…
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Episode 73: The Gilded Age: First March on Washington D.C.
In 1894 Jacob Coxey decided to take thousands of unemployed and March on Washington. Well, that was just the prequel to 1964 March for Civil…
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Episode 72: The Invention of Hello
The word Hello showed up just as the world was changing . . . in the absolute biggest ways ever. Nothing was the same after…
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Episode 71: The Amana Utopia and Patriot Missile
Can you imagine a group running on perfect communism, flourishing in the capitalist market and then eventually spawning the Patriot Missile - to fight actual…
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Episode 70: Who Knows The Truth? Does A.I.?
Somewhere along the way, we lost the truth. The questions we ask about the truth haven't been the same since Orson Welles' War of the…
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Episode 69: Status Symbol for Rent
In today’s episode we’re discussing three of the history's most amazing "status symbol" stories. The story involves the Silk Road, Sulieman the Magnificent, Tulipomania, Carolus…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 68: Hello Darkness My New Friend - The Story of The Family Who Created Sonar and Braille
In this episode we explore Simon & Garfunkel, Louis Braille, Charles Barbier, Valentin Haüy and René-Jus Haüy, Marvel Comics, Popular Science Magazine, Plato and even…
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Episode 67: How a Coffee Shop Changed the World: The Origin Story of Lloyds of London
This is the story of Edward Lloyd and his London Coffee Shop . . . and how they were able to change the world. Amazingly…
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Episode 66: The America of Tarzan and Buck vs Bell
The 1890 closing of the Frontier by the US Census Bureau is a major milestone in the history of the United States. The outcome of…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 65: When Osama Bin Laden Wrinkled FDR's Plans: The 100 Year Fight Against Polio
This is the story of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Henrietta Lacks, Jonas Salk, the March of Dimes, the Tuskegee Institute and their collective effort to eradicate…
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Episode 64: How did Bob Hope's USO become a thing? And who performed?
In today's episode we look at all the people and plans it took to create the United Service Organization (USO). While there was enormous planning…
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Episode 63: Classified: How the Library Built the FBI and How did J. Edgar Hoover Get Involved?
It all started in the 1500s with Sir Francis Bacon, and then in the 1700s with Carl Linnaeus. And along the way we run into…
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Episode 62: The Cheesy Results of WW II: Plus the Story of How Nachos Came to Be
One of the greatest products of World War II was "cheesy". And it's all Wisconsin's fault. In fact it's possible that without WW2 three of…
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Episode 61: Every Episode Has 4
This is episode 61, the end of the first era and beginning of the second. In fielding your hundreds of ideas for shows, we decided…
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Episode 60: The Secret World of Roald Dahl (A Real Chocolate Spy)
The fact that our most beloved children's author was a spy for the British isn't the twist. The twist comes when his greatest enemy becomes…
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Episode 59: The True Story of Candy Canes and How They Became a Christmas Tradition
Did you know that if it weren't for the Mexicans and the Swedes, our Christmas would look substantially different? Yep, today we trace the world…
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Episode 58: The Cultural Impact of Don McLean's "American Pie" (and the part Roberta Flack played)
The "American Dream" was first coined in 1931. In 1971 two things happened on exactly the same day . . . the world's biggest song…
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Episode 57: 1848: The Year Halloween Began and How it Started
Have you ever heard the origin of Halloween? Perhaps you've heard about the Irish holiday Samhain, but there's more. And all of it converges on…
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Episode 56: The Amazing Story of Van Diemen's Land and the U.S. Presidential Resolute Desk
The Resolute Desk was a gift to the President as the movie National Treasure says. But did you know it involved Tasmania, Van Diemen's Land,…
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Episode 55: The Story of Grant Wood's American Gothic and How Crayola Was the Inspiration
When the Industrial Revolution came to town, it inspired an opposite movement that may have changed the world. It certainly inspired a construction style and…
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Episode 54: America's Westward Expansion and CBS TV's Rural Purge
The Louisiana Purchase kicked off Westward Expansion in the United States. Then came the transcontinental railroad, Homesteading and factory towns. Even the Industrial Revolution aided…
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Episode 53: Robert Smalls & the Death of Lincoln: A Civil War Story
Robert Smalls was the defiant slave who decided freedom was a better choice. That is when his and President Abraham Lincoln's lives would be intertwined,…
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Episode 52: The Cannon Shot Rule: How Maritime Law Conquered the Sky
Did you know the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, the Chinese Spy Balloon and the International Space Station all have one thing in…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 51: Connected Origins of the Bloody Mary & Moscow Mule
French Lick, Indiana was once the top resort town in the U.S. Famous people like Bing Crosby, Al Capone, Ronald Reagan, and Larry Bird all…
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Episode 50: How Many Times Has Coca-Cola Changed Their Secret Recipe?
Everyone knows they changed it in 1985 to New Coke. But how many know of the other four times? And one of those might be…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 49: The 20th Century Trivia Window: Jeopardy & Trivial Pursuit
The 20th Century presented the perfect moment for the rise is Trivia, and the games that go with it. Maybe that window is beginning to…
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Episode 48: The Whole It's A Wonderful Life Movie Story
Did you know "It's A Wonderful Life" started out as a dream? And then as a Christmas card? How did it beat the odds to…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 47: Was Dickens the World's First Influencer?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an influencer is someone who made it big online. We disagree. Could there have been an influencer before the…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 46: How East Texas Wildcatters Won World War II
Winston Churchill said it best "whomever controls the oil will win the war". Luckily, the United States had Wilcatters with true tenacity who would find…
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Episode 45: How the Chinese Exclusion Act Created Bing Cherries and General Tso Chicken
The Chinese Exclusion Act is one of our most undiscussed tragedies. Despite the bad, Chinese immigrants pushed through to help shapes these United States. Today's…
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Episode 44: The Complex History of Popcorn in the 20th Century Culture
To get a button on the microwave for popcorn, it first had to touch the hands of Winston Churchill, Cracker Jacks, the 1893 World's Fair,…
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Episode 43: Celebrity Edition: The Rest of the Story
Today we honor Paul Harvey's "The Rest of the Story" with this unbelievable tale. You'll never guess who it is about, but along the way…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 42: The Murder That Created the Oxford English Dictionary
The path to creating the world's most important dictionary involved J.R.R. Tolkien, the constructed language of Esperanto, the Oxford English Dictionary, a murderer in an…
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Episode 41: Halley's Comet and the Scientist who Hijacked a NASA Satellite
Did you know a scientist once hijacked a satellite from NASA? And got a medal for it? Comets have been part of our world since…
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Episode 40: The Evolution of Email and the Enron Corpus
The history of email is over 300 years in the making . . . and every step is fascinating, especially the Enron Corpus. Without the…
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Episode 39: 484 Year Documentary of Muscle Shoals
How could the smallest town in the furthest corner become the epicenter of music? Because it has been the silent epicenter of the US from…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 38: Who Silenced Alfred Hitchcock?
Alfred Hitchcock is known as the Master of Suspense and greatest director of the 20th Century. What made him different? Today's episode is the Six…
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Episode 37: The Cropduster, The Military Plot & Lindbergh's 322 Bones
Charles Lindbergh is the connecting rod between Delta Air Lines and Pan Am. But how they came to be involves a military plot, some crop…
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Episode 36: When 26 Million Teens Waited for The Beatles
While many think The Beatles took the world by storm, in reality the world was patiently waiting for them. In this episode we explore Brylcreem,…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 34: Rolex and the Hands that Changed the World
Did you know that a town in Norway wanted to abolish time? They decided to get rid of all the clocks because "shouldn't people eat…
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Episode 35: The Fairy Tale of Sixto Rodriquez
Have you heard of Sixto Rodriguez? At one time he was more popular than the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. The Story of Sixto Rodriguez…
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Episode 33: Finish What You Started
In today's episode we look at how it all started. George Lucas, Thor Heyerdahl, Warren Buffet, James Marshall, Roger Cook, Mt. St. Helens, John Houseman,…
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Episode 32: How the Creation of Blue Dye Became the Signature of the 20th Century
The creation of blue has dyed jeans and caused immeasurable grief. Blue is not an easy color to come by in nature. The path to…
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Episode 31: Did Russia Start the Peace Movement?
Was Russia the first to make Peace a political campaign? How did the Peace sign come to be? In today's episode learn the stance Russia…
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Episode 30: The Wright Brothers, The Suffragists and the U.S. President
There was a time when a plan was hatched to bomb Woodrow Wilson, but not the way you'd ever think. Today's story involves L. Frank…
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Episode 29: 187 Years Behind Martin Luther King's Dream
Where did the words in the "I have a dream" speech come from? W.E.B. Dubois, Abraham Lincoln, A. Philip Randolph, Langston Hughes, Mahalia Jackson, Thomas…
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Episode 28: Will Winnie the Pooh Ever Find Freedom?
How did Winnie The Pooh change United States Copyright law? Since the beginning they changed considerably - and maybe rightly so. This is the story…
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Episode 27: The History and Impact of McCann Erickson
Much of what you know from the 20th Century can be traced back to McCann Erickson. Everything that seemingly unites those of us with a…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 26: A Charlie Brown Christmas Podcast (The Trivia)
Thinking of watching A Charlie Brown Christmas this year? Or creating a Charlie Brown Christmas Trivia Game? What would be better than a full understanding…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 24: How the Cholera Epidemic Jump Started the History of Pizza
The history of pizza is more than its Naples Origin. You'll be amazed how Mario Puzo, Queen Margherita, Pinocchio, Yogi Berra, Al Capone, The Supreme…
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Episode 23: Did the Post Office Grow America?
Could the post office be the single largest cause of America's expansion to Westward? When you look at it through Maslow's lens, it just may…
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Episode 22: How the Supreme Court Created Disney+ and HBOMax
People like Walt Disney, Walter Murisch, Blake Edwards, Friz Freleng and Henry Mancini paved the way for Independent Film Makers today. . . but they…
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Episode 21: How H.G. Wells Started Science Fiction and the Space Race
HG Wells motivated authors, inventors, scientists, politicians and the every day man. Specifically Orson Welles, Leo Szilard, Robert Goddard and George Lucas were inspired by…
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Episode 20: Connecting The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
The Six Degrees of Separation Game originated in 1909 with a Novel Prize winners speech. From there it has grown in reach and truth. What…
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Episode 19: Was the Idea for m&ms Stolen or Inspired?
Which 2 wars played a role in the history of M&M Chocolate Candy? And the Nutcracker? How did the Mars Bar, 3 Musketeers, Milky Way…
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Episode 18: How Negro League Baseball Solved the Cuban Missile Crisis
Baseball created strong ties between the U.S. and Cuba, specifically the negro leagues and the Cuban league. For both countries baseball had become the national…
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Episode 17: How a Tennessee Student Overturned the Scopes Trial Verdict
Let's unravel the mysteries of the Trial of the Century where Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan put evolution on trial. What was the long…
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Episode 16: Believe it or Not! A Cartoonist Saved our National Anthem
In today's story we explore the interconnected stories of Anacreon the Greek Poet, Francis Scott Key, Robert Ripley, John Philip Sousa and 7 US Presidents. …
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Episode 9: How the Transistor and Pirate Radio Created Rock n Roll
Rock N Roll wouldn't exist like it does without these three guys. Because while Chuck Berry and Elvis were ushering in a new age of…
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Episode 8: ABCs of the Most Famous Song in the World
The most famous tune in the world has been around for 700 years as part of classical, folk, children's and pop music. It's been played…
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Episode 7: Why Rand McNally's Route 66 Started With Camels
Did you know Route 66 started in 1857, with Camels? Learn about the history of Route 66 intersects with the Indy 500, Charles Lindbergh, The…
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Episode 6: The Wizard of Oz's 30 Year Miracle
How did Frank Lloyd Wright, Susan B. Anthony, the Great Chicago Fire, L. Frank Baum and Judy Garland help create the 39 year Wizard of…
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Episode 5: The John Williams Legacy You Knew Nothing About
Did you know that the Williams family has its hands on Orson Wells, Gilligan's Island, Back to the Future, the Looney Tunes, the Simpsons, Saved…
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Episode 4: How Curious George Escaped Nazi Germany
If you're going to the traveling exhibit of the Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey, this is…
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Episode 3: The Surprising Life Story of Paul Harvey (Radio)
What path did Paul Harvey take to become the most influential man of the 20th century? Let me just say that it involves Charles Lindbergh,…
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Episode 2: How the Hostess Twinkie Survived Death (Twice)
There's a Twinkie in Maine that's 30 years old. But the story of Twinkie has far outlasted that. How did a brand outlast it's owners…
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Podcast Episode
Episode 1: How The Oregon Trail Game Made Apple Computers Famous
Minneapolis's tech community was far ahead of everyone else. And their state government's progressive attitude paved the way for great changes. 1,500 miles away Steve…
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