Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century cover art

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century

By: Dan R. Morris - 20th Century Historian
Listen for free

Tracing The Path explores how ordinary people, products, ideas, and moments 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 uncovers the forgotten figures, unexpected decisions, and hidden connections behind the people, products, places, and ideas 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 is crafted to leave you with that rare feeling:

"I had no idea."

Whether we're exploring world-changing inventions, iconic brands, cultural turning points, political upheavals, or everyday objects hiding extraordinary histories, you'll discover that history is far more connected than it first appears.

Because the modern world didn't appear overnight.

Someone built it.

Something changed it.

Every path has a beginning.

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.


Copyright 2026 Dan R. Morris - 20th Century Historian
World
Episodes
  • Episode 80: One Step Leads to Another
    May 30 2026

    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 Twain, Bram Stoker, Nicolae Ceaușescu the Austro Hungarian Empire, the University of Nebraska, Auschwitz, the Sound of Music and the concept of manifestation.

    Show More Show Less
    32 mins
  • Episode 79: The Conversation: Yeltsin's Grocery Revolution
    May 2 2026

    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 inventions and the plight of A&P.

    Show More Show Less
    28 mins
  • Episode 78: Yeltsin's Grocery Revolution
    Apr 30 2026

    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 on the world changed in one :20 minute moment. But it wasn't NYC or Miami or President Bush. It was Randall's Grocery Store in Webster Texas. This is the story of the history of that moment.

    In this episode we cross paths with Marjorie Merriwether Post, IBM, Spectra-Physics, Wrigley's Gum, James J. Hill, Clarence Saudners, Williams Leslie Maxson, Boris Yeltsin and Grape Nuts.

    Show More Show Less
    40 mins
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet