History with Flavor: Join our pithy and insightful tour through the past as we riff through the headlines from one week in the 20th Century. We will plunge through the newspapers, highlighting the famous and the infamous, the crazy stories and oddball characters, arch criminals and stupid plots pulled off by the politicians and heroes who have helped to create the world we live in.
Publisher
Raspberry Podcast Team: Michael Prince and Ed Strosser, authors of Stupid Wars
As we near the Super Bowl, we present a special episode with Ken Belson, author of the bestselling new book, Every Day is Sunday. We have a fun and insightful conversation about how the NFL, starting in 1993, launched itself from a successful sports league into a cultural and financial juggernaut.
24 Dec 2025
Episode 17 - 1942 - War is Annoying as Hell
September 24-30, 1942 - World War II. History books of this week will focus on the huge battles taking place in Stalingrad and Guadalcanal. The newspapers, on the other hand, were way more focused on the home front. The one or two stories about these very famous battles were overshadowed by the endless stories of new rationing at home and the latest scrap metal drive. For soldiers at the front, life was hard. For those at home, life had become very annoying.
5 Sept 2025
Episode 16 - 1980 - A New Chapter
July 16-20 1980 - A New Chapter. The summer of great movies was a cover to distract the country from the horrible economy. Amidst the cratering economy, the country was deciding between the moralizing and sweater-wearing world of Jimmy Carter, or the unlimited and mythical world of Ronald Reagan. Smalls cars against gas guzzlers. We know how that contest turned out.
Hijacking to Cuba, East German women on steroids, and scientists telling use all about global warming but we refused to listen.
27 Jun 2025
Episode 15 - 1925 - The Summer For the Gods with Edward Larson
Professor Edward Larson discusses his Pulitzer-Prize winning book, *Summer for the Gods*, and the shocking details of the Scopes Trial, highlighting William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow in this interview.
26 May 2025
Episode 14 - 1945 - The End of WW 2 with historian and writer Lynne Olson
Historian Lynne Olson discusses the final week of World War II in Europe, highlighting the story of Ravensbruck, an all-female concentration camp, in this interview episode.
12 May 2025
Episode 13 - 1921 - The Birth of the Superstar with Kevin Baker
We are having another special episode of the Raspberry Podcast , this time with the writer Kevin Baker. He has written numerous history books and novels. His latest is The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City. We are talking sports and specifically a week in 1921 when boxer Jack Dempsey became a superstar, later teaming up with newly minted New York baseball legend Babe Ruth. The era of the superstar athlete was born, which along with the rise of a new media - radio - would turn local heroes into international celebrities.
28 Apr 2025
Episode 12 - 1954 - USA, The Godzilla of Nations
A US nuclear test in the Bikini atoll went horribly awry in early March. The explosion was much bigger than anticipated - whoops! and fallout rained down on a Japanese fishing boat - Lucky Dragon 5. Not so lucky for them it turns out. It gave rise to the story behind Godzilla, released later that year. The terrible monster from the deep created by nuclear radiation.
Like the errant nuclear test in Bikini, the rapidly expanding power of the USA - dueling with the Soviet Union around the world in a Cold War while also on an epic tear of economic growth - was transforming into a world-crushing monster like the one that that emerged from the deep.
The USA had its own monsters - including Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the famous drunken, redhunter. Another lurking monster was the US involvement with the French as our ally tried to hold onto its colonial vanity while slowly losing its final battle in Vietnam at a place called Dien Bien Phu.
Doomed French paratroopers, Communist ghosts, tail gunners and monsters, and lots of nuclear fallout. This is the Raspberry Podcast looking at the week of March 20-26, 1954.
12 Mar 2025
Episode 11 - 1978 - The More Things Change...The More They Stay the Same
In February 1978 the good old USA had big problems, inflation was high and also unemployment was high. This was stagflation and it was raging. No one seemed to have a handle on how to address these multiple issues.
Jimmy Carter was the serious president attempting to deal these issues in a serious way, as an adult president.
1978 was the final year of the era when you could be a president looking to solve problems. From 1979, with the start of the "Killer Rabbit" fake scandal, the right-wing attack machine found its stride and has not let up since then. In fact, you can draw direct line to Joe Biden stealing the 2020 election.
30 Jan 2025
Episode 10 - 1941 - Gearing Up for the Big One
Today we are looking at the week of December 25 to December 31, 1941. The start of the US involvement in World War 2.
It was a surprisingly smooth transition from the chaos of December 7, where no one had any idea what was happening either in Hawaii or Washington.
World War 2 was 3 weeks old and already we knew the outcome. It was assumed that we would win. Where and when this ultimate victory would occur was not known. But not whether we would achieve ultimate victory.
Now, three weeks into the war, the transition to a plan for victory was deftly performed. Factories switched over to wartime production. Leaders were putting plans into motion for how to finance, arm and transport this massive war machine.
In the last week of December 1941 here was no hint that victory was not within reach. It was not a plan for survival or a plan to eke out a victory. The plan was clear, we are going to create a massive war machine and crush the enemies into an unconditional surrender. There was anger, there was determination, there was fear and anxiety. But there was no doubt.
9 Dec 2024
Episode 9 - 1917 - American Midnight with Adam Hochschild
Adam Hochschild, author of American Midnight, uncovers the crisis of democracy in the US during World War I, a cautionary tale for our own times.
28 Nov 2024
Episode 8 - 1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis, What You Don't Know May Kill Us All
Nobel laureate and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and historian and author James Blight recount the pivotal 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, revealing how a massive information gap nearly led to global catastrophe.
18 Oct 2024
Episode 7 - 1952 - If this Ain't Peak, you don't know Peak
September 5 through September 11, 1952. A week we call Peak - If this Ain’t Peak, you don’t know Peak.
This was the Great Times people want to go back to…The Good Old Days, if this is not the great time, then there is no great time.
The late summer of 1952 saw the US at the peak of its powers, the undisputed kings of the post-war world. The economy was roaring, we were fighting a huge war in Korea to stop the Communists but it barely registered with the American public.
At the same time there was a US presidential election - General Dwight Eisenhower against Adlai Stevenson that dominated the news.
Meanwhile popular culture was shifting under their feet. The era of Hemingway was coming to its apex with his Pulitzer Prize this year with "Old Man and the Sea", while this week Kurt Vonnegut’s first book, "Player Piano", debuted, signalling a shift in the tone of American literature.
The Bush political dynasty got its start, a Donald Trump mentor becomes big news… This was the Peak year of the Good ‘ole USA…
Join us at the Raspberry Podcast.
23 Sept 2024
Episode 6 - 1973 - The Culture War Kickoff
The 70s were crazy. And they still aren’t over.
We are in this episode looking at August 29 - September 4, 1973. This week was the culture war kickoff. The Vietnam War was still raging despite the US combat troops all leaving in March 1973.
The biggest war was now being fought in Washington DC - Watergate. On one side was good old Tricky Dick “I am not a crook” Nixon who was holding out from Judge Sirica’s slap down to cough up the White House tapes. Dick said no way.
His vice president, Spiro Agnew, announced he would never resign because of the accusations he was taking bribes - cash in paper bags - but he did finally quit that October, the first big victim of the culture war. In August he was still taking bribe…it’s a good bet..
American culture was splitting apart, never to come together again. Not yet. The pro-Vietnam War supporters versus the anti-war counter-culture, about to be enshrined in mass media by the amazing artists of the era, from movies to arts to books and then politics.
The battle over Watergate was front and center….a bellwether for the decades to come.
28 Aug 2024
Episode 5 - 1947 - Peak Mess
August 22-August 28, 1947. Two years after the US and its allies, Britain, France, Canada and Australia had won the war. Peace and prosperity has arrived, or so everyone had hoped. The US had dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan to win the war. The country and the world celebrated the end.
But the reality of winning the war was proving to be quite different than imagined. In 1947 the real result wasn’t peace, just a big gigantic mess. The Big Mess.
A worldwide mess.
1947, Peak mess!
The peace dividend was nowhere to be found.
And it was much worse overseas. The world was in chaos as everyone rolled from a full-out fight against the Axis powers into a cold war against endless Soviet assaults and aggression.
The Cold War was the major issue. But not to be outdone, our English allies decided within the space of 3 months to give independence to its prize jewel, India. Unexpectedly, this triggered the great transfer of millions of people between India and Pakistan following independence and partition. The Muslims and Hindus clashed. Millions died. This was called the partition of India, one of the largest, but from the US perspective, less known crisis of the 20th century.
21 Aug 2024
Episode 4 - 1930 - Van Lear Black - The Harbinger
August 15-21, 1930. Who was Van Lear Black? And what was he a harbinger of? He wasn’t just a man with three middle names, he was the very wealthy owner of the Baltimore Sun back when newspapers were the only media that mattered.
His demise tells us about 1930, the year the depression really started to bite.
While times were bad and getting worse, people were still obsessed with two things: keeping tabs on people who were flying around the world in flimsy aircraft which today you wouldn’t step into even if it had wheels, and liquor.
Prohibition was going strong, but politicians were openly calling for its repeal, while the cops were still making a show of locking up people for having booze. The US was a country split between the wets and dries.
Meanwhile, a drought was ravaging the Midwest. Another harbinger.
But baseball, still the number one sport here in the US, provided quite a show. Batting batting averages were never higher. It was the year of everyone being a great hitter.
In politics we had a General who later became a dictator, a marine who later became a dictator and a German general turned Bolivian general. Wets and dries, drought and a rain of hits, and too many dictators, as usual.
6 Aug 2024
Episode 3 - 1982 - Midnight in America
August 8-14, 1982. Midnight in America.
Two years before there was Ronald Reagan's Morning in America, we had 1982, what we call Midnight in America. It was anything but the roaring 1980s from popular memory. This week was like an alternative universe in many ways to the 1920s.
Brand new President Ronald Reagan was heading up to Capitol Hill to stump for a tax increase of all things. The tax increase would turn out to be the largest tax increase in US history. The economy was still suffering a long hangover from the exploding interest rates that got cranked up in the late 1970s. 15%! The 70s in America were a little crazy and 1982 was the transition from the ugly 1970s to the more sedate 1980s.
In Europe, things were testier, as usual.
The Solidarity trade union in Poland had been officially outlawed by the government of President Jaruzelski, but was holding mass demonstrations in the streets this week.
Israel was fighting the PLO in Lebanon. And President Reagan told them to stop fighting…and they did.
The summer of blockbuster movies was upon us, more great movies than you can remember.
AIDS was stalking the land but it was only beginning to be known and understood.
28 Jul 2024
Episode 2 - 1925 - The Roaring Twenties
August 1-7, 1925. The Roaring Twenties.
1925 was the heart of the Roaring Twenties and they were roaring. "The Great Gatsby" came out that year, the famous novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald which perfectly captured the flavor of the year. Jimmy Walker was the flamboyant mayor of New York City. Mayor Walker perfectly epitomized the ethos of the Roaring Twenties. He was nominated this week and elected in November.
The post World War 1 scene was winding down as the French and their allies pulled out of the Ruhr region of Germany, the industrial heartland, while the orchestra was setting into their seats for the next war.
Germany and Poland were each evicting non-desirables of the other country back to their respective homelands. It created scenes of “concentration camp” misery for both populations. But trouble with Poland and the French leaving the Ruhr were signs that things were starting to look up for Hitler and Nazis, although most people were oblivious to the signs of the horrible future that was coming.
Finally, on the homefront there was baseball, Babe Ruth and - women swimming! There were more women running around in bathing suits than ever before. Gertrude Ederle tried to swim the English Channel.
And final goodbyes to the famous William Jennings Bryan who finally gets to meet God. He had a lot to tell him, for sure, as the earth, in particular the US of A was still filled with such a delightful mixture of criminals, crazy businessmen and politicians, such as the rich NY real estate mogul who tried to adopt a 21 year old woman as his daughter. We will find out how that ended.
And an update on the nuclear buzzer!
This is the Raspberry Podcast. History with Flavor! Your hosts, Michael Prince and Ed Strosser.
17 Jul 2024
Episode 1 - 1933 - The Summer of Depression
The last week of July. 1933. Turns out this was one exciting week.
FDR and Adolf Hitler both came to power in 1933 and what they were doing dominated the news just about every day.
And as a surprise, perhaps the biggest story of the week was the happenings of the long-distance flying couple of Amy and Captain Jim Mollision "The Flying Mollisons" as they failed in their attempt to fly nonstop from Wales to NYC.
And has the Raspberry Podcast solved a 90-year-old murder?
People often talk about the Good Old Days. They must not have been talking about the summer of 1933. When for some, nudity was worse than Nazism.
Nazis, the Depression. Failed flyers and Kidnappers. This is the Raspberry Podcast. History with Flavor. Your Hosts Ed Strosser and Michael Prince
17 Jul 2024
Raspberry Podcast - Trailer
Raspberry Podcast is History with Flavor.
In our book, Stupid Wars, we broke new ground integrating history and humor, while shining a light onto some of the most ridiculous and hidden corners of world history.
We are now turning to the headlines of the 20th Century, that bloody, crazy and amazing century - encompassing some of the highest highs and lowest lows of human achievement. We went to the moon but had so many world wars they had to be numbered.
Each episode we will delve into the headlines from one week and examine what happened and how it relates to today.
Listen and Enjoy. You just might learn something.
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Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Spotify
4.8 / 5
5 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 34 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
54
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
32
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