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    History

    Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century

    Tracing The Path is a 20th Century History podcast exploring how ordinary people, products, ideas, events, and places unexpectedly shaped the modern world.

    Every episode begins with something familiar—a word, a company, a song, an invention, a historical event, or a cultural phenomenon—and follows the surprising chain of connections that made it matter.

    Why did a grocery store change the course of the Cold War?

    How did a simple greeting become part of everyday life?

    What do advertising agencies, world leaders, musicians, inventors, and soft drink companies have in common?

    More than you might think.

    Hosted by award-winning storyteller Dan R. Morris, Tracing The Path connects familiar people, products, events, and places you never knew were linked, bringing together the forgotten figures, unexpected decisions, remarkable coincidences, and cultural turning points that shaped the 20th Century—and continue to influence our lives today.

    Inspired by the storytelling traditions of Paul Harvey, Charles Kuralt, Charles Osgood, and Garrison Keillor, each episode approaches 20th Century History not as a collection of isolated events, but as an interconnected story waiting to be traced.

    The individual pieces of these stories may already be known. What makes Tracing The Path different is the way those pieces are brought together—creating stories you’ve never heard before about things you thought you already knew.

    Whether we’re exploring world-changing inventions, iconic brands, cultural turning points, political upheavals, or everyday objects with extraordinary histories, the result is designed to leave you with that rare feeling:

    “I had no idea.”

    Because the modern world didn’t appear overnight.

    Someone built it.

    Something changed it.

    And everything is connected.

    New episodes monthly, plus bonus Addendum episodes featuring the stories that didn’t make the final cut.

    Visit TracingThePath.com for episode transcripts, discussion questions, trivia, and additional resources.

    Advertise
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    • Spotify

    Latest Episodes:
    Episode 76: The World's Most Famous Music Mar 29, 2026
    Show notes

    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 it. In this episode we cross paths with Thomas Edison, Stanley Kubrick, Walt Disney, The Lone Ranger, Richard Strauss, Johannes Brahms, Charles Darwin, The Who, Edvard Grieg, Peer Gynt, Freidrich Schiller and Friedrich Nietzche and many more.


    Episode 75: The Conversation: The Real Forrest Gump Mar 11, 2026
    Show notes

    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 Gump" story. Enjoy this new series and a full conversation, including Josh Norton: The Emperor of the United States.


    Episode 74: The Real Life Forrest Gump Mar 01, 2026
    Show notes

    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, rubbing elbows with presidents and changing the world by mistake. But what if that story wasn't fiction? In this episode, we trace the impossible footsteps of a figure who defined the 19th century.

    Follow the journey of a man who:

    • Survived the rugged Oregon Trail during the height of the expansion.
    • Navigated the treacherous Mississippi as a high-stakes steamboat captain.
    • Chased a fortune as a silver and gold miner in the wild West.
    • Crossed the Atlantic Ocean six times, becoming one of the first true global celebrities.
    • Revolutionized modern life by inventing and patenting the everyday bra strap clasp.

    He wasn't just a witness to history—he was the one writing it. Join us as we peel back the layers of a life so cinematic, it’s hard to believe he was ever real. You might think you know who we’re talking about, but the final destination is a name you’d never expect to find sitting on that bench.


    Episode 73: The Gilded Age: First March on Washington D.C. Jan 30, 2026
    Show notes

    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 Rights. But it's how A. Philip Randolph was indoctrinated to the idea. And crazily this store involves both Mark Twain and Jack London, in addition to Pullman Porters, the Ferris Wheel, Eugene V Debs, the May Day Riots, Frederick Douglass, and even the Statue of Liberty.


    Episode 72: The Invention of Hello Dec 28, 2025
    Show notes

    The word Hello showed up just as the world was changing . . . in the absolute biggest ways ever. Nothing was the same after "Hello". In this episode we cross paths with Michigan J Frog, Tin Pan Alley, the Phonograph, Western Union, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Alexander Graham Bell, Scott Joplin, the telephone operator, Thomas Edison and J. N. Pattison.


    Episode 71: The Amana Utopia and Patriot Missile Nov 24, 2025
    Show notes

    Can you imagine a group running on perfect communism, flourishing in the capitalist market and then eventually spawning the Patriot Missile - to fight actual Communists. And it happened twice. In this episode we cross paths with Quaker Oatmeal, microwave popcorn, Vennevar Bush, the Amana Colonies, Oneida Silverware, Bob Hope and Raytheon.


    Episode 70: Who Knows The Truth? Does A.I.? Oct 24, 2025
    Show notes

    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 World's Broadcast in 1938, but that doesn't mean we haven't stopped trying. In this episode we cross paths with William Moulton Marston, Alice Guy-Blache, Frye Vs The United States, John Houseman, Alan Turing, The Shadow, Wonder Woman, Artificial Intelligence, FDR, IBM and Orson Welles.


    Episode 69: Status Symbol for Rent Sep 29, 2025
    Show notes

    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 Clusius, Chuck Berry, Christopher Columbus, Henry Ford, James Dole, Madame C.J. Walker, and Mahalia Jackson.


    Episode 68: Hello Darkness My New Friend - The Story of The Family Who Created Sonar and Braille Aug 22, 2025
    Show notes

    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 George Washington. How the world has fought Darkness has been pretty amazing . . . and crazily it's all because of one family


    Episode 67: How a Coffee Shop Changed the World: The Origin Story of Lloyds of London Jul 28, 2025
    Show notes

    This is the story of Edward Lloyd and his London Coffee Shop . . . and how they were able to change the world. Amazingly this story touches on the New York Stock Exchange, Bruce Springsteen, George Lucas, Lorenzo de Tonti, the Origin of the Tontine, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyds of London and Rosa Parks. Be prepared to be amazed.


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