Lost and Found: Caroline Topperman on Family, Identity, and the Search for Home
Release Date: 04/07/2025
What Abraham Lincoln Still Teaches Us About Leadership
The Not Old - Better Show
What Abraham Lincoln Still Teaches Us About Leadership The Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series 217 years after his birth, Abraham Lincoln remains the gold standard of American leadership — and he still has something to teach us. In our latest episode of , I sat down with Professor Louis P. Masur — Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University — to explore the traits that made Lincoln more than just a president. He was a strategist, a master communicator, and perhaps most importantly, a leader who wasn’t...
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Emotional Landscapes: Oscar-Nominated Filmmaker Pen Densham Reinvents Nature Photography
The Not Old - Better Show
Emotional Landscapes: Oscar-Nominated Filmmaker Pen Densham Reinvents Nature Photography The Not Old Better Show, Art of Living Interview Series 🎙️ Oscar-nominated filmmaker Pen Densham is now reinventing photography — and what it means to create at any age. Listen here: 🌿 Pen Densham blends storytelling with impressionist nature photography — and reminds us that it’s never too late to create. Listen now: 🎬 At 4 years old, Pen Densham rode an alligator in a short film. At 75, he’s reinventing what it means to be a storyteller — not with film, but through impressionist...
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Restoring Sight, Restoring Lives: The $10M Campaign to End Preventable Blindness
The Not Old - Better Show
Vision for All: The Life-Changing Power of a Simple Donation Welcome to The Not Old Better Show, Art of Living series. Today’s show is brought to you by Aura Frames. Aura Frames: the gift that brings your favorite holiday traditions and memories to life every day. 🎙️ This is our annual charitable giving show, and we’re proud to announce that our 2025 giving selection is the life-changing vision restoration campaign from The Fred Hollows Foundation, supported by Causeway’s $10 million matching challenge.Today, we’re talking about something that affects millions—and could...
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Romance After 50: Nancy Gulbrandsen Has Seen It All (And She’s Naming Names)
The Not Old - Better Show
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Rebuilt: How John Stewart Hill Turned Pain into Purpose and Purpose into Impact
The Not Old - Better Show
Rebuilt: How John Stewart Hill Turned Pain into Purpose and Purpose into Impact The Not Old Better Show, Art of Living Interview Series Welcome to The Not Old Better Show, Art of Living series on NOB Studios. I’m Paul Vogelzang, and today’s episode is brought to you by . …You’ll be thinking about long after it ends. Imagine this: you're lying in a hospital bed. The doctors say it's bad. You've had a massive heart attack. It’s 3AM. You’re alone. And just when you're ready to let go... a quiet question comes to your heart: Do you want to stay, or do you want to go? Our guest today,...
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Beating the Loneliness Epidemic: How ACE’s Dr. Cedric Bryant and Dr. Sabrena Jo Help Us Add People to Our Years
The Not Old - Better Show
Beating the Loneliness Epidemic: How ACE’s Dr. Cedric Bryant and Dr. Sabrena Jo Help Us Add People to Our Years Live Long Better: Not Old Better and American Council on Exercise Today’s show is brought to you by Aura Frames. Aura Frames: the gift that brings your favorite holiday traditions and memories to life every day. If I told you there was a health risk that could quietly raise your chances of early death by roughly 25 to 30 percent… and it wasn’t diabetes, blood pressure, or cholesterol… you’d probably lean in. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, loneliness and social...
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The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyperpersuasion
The Not Old - Better Show
The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyperpersuasion The Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series Have you ever wondered if the thoughts you're thinking… are actually yours? Today’s conversation might just change the way you think—literally. Our guest is Harvard historian of science , who’s spent the last two decades pulling back the curtain on something most of us think we’re immune to: brainwashing. But this isn't science fiction or Cold War spy stuff—though it starts there. In Lemov takes us deep into the hidden archives of CIA...
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Wrapped, Rated & Ready: Good Housekeeping’s Smartest Holiday Picks
The Not Old - Better Show
Wrapped, Rated & Ready: Good Housekeeping’s Smartest Holiday Picks! The Not Old Better Show, Good Better Best Good Housekeeping Interview Series 🎁 Holiday deals are everywhere—but which ones are actually worth it? 🛍️ Today's episode is brought to you by Aura Frames, and in our latest episode of Good Better Best – Good Housekeeping, I sit down with Amanda Fama, Senior Editor for Deals & Trends at Good Housekeeping, to get the real scoop on Black Friday shopping. Amanda isn’t just watching price tags—she’s matching deals to products actually tested by the...
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The Quiet Goodbye: Loving and Losing a Dog Later in Life 🐶💔
The Not Old - Better Show
Thank you! Today’s show is brought to you by Aura Frames. Aura Frames: the gift that brings your favorite holiday traditions and memories to life every day. You know, there are some goodbyes we never quite learn how to say. For those of us in life’s later chapters, the love we give — and receive — from our pets often takes on a deeper, quieter meaning. They’re not just animals. They’re our companions in the long walks, the quiet nights, the joyful mornings. They don’t judge our age, our pace, or our past. They just stay, and in so doing they combat our epidemic of loneliness...
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🤖🛡️ AI: Promise, Peril & Your Power — with David Eliot 🎙️
The Not Old - Better Show
🤖🛡️ AI: Promise, Peril & Your Power — with David Eliot 🎙️ The Not Old Better Show, Technology Power Hour Interview Series Today’s show is brought to you by Aura Frames. Aura Frames: the gift that brings your favorite holiday traditions and memories to life every day. 1) A story that feels both urgent and familiar. We’ve all seen how AI seems to appear out of nowhere—on our screens, in news, in ads, even in family group chats. The real drama isn’t whether the tech will exist. It’s whether we understand it well enough to shape it. That’s the promise and the warning...
info_outlineLost and Found: Caroline Topperman on Family, Identity, and the Search for Home
The Not Old Better Show, Family History, Genealogy Interview Series
Welcome to The Not Old Better Show on radio and podcast. Today’s show is brought to you by Acorns. The Not Old Better Show. Acorns. ..I’Acorns makes it easy for everyone to start saving and investing
What does it mean to belong? Is home a place, a language, a history—or something else entirely?
Caroline Topperman thought she knew. She grew up speaking Polish, knowing her family’s deep roots in the country, and believing that moving there with her husband would feel like coming home. But instead of familiarity, she found disconnection. Instead of certainty, she found questions. The result of that search is her stunning new book, Your Roots Cast a Shadow: One Family’s Search Across History for Belonging.
Caroline’s story is not just about her journey—it’s about the generations before her who crossed borders and survived wars, about ancestors who built roads in Afghanistan, fought political battles in Poland, and escaped the horrors of World War II. It’s about what gets passed down through family stories, and what gets lost in translation.
She uncovered letters, documents, and even an entire book her grandfather wrote—one referenced in The Holocaust Museum and Stanford’s Hoover Institution. But she also found the gaps, the missing voices, the untold truths. And through it all, she wrestled with a question so many of us face: Do we ever truly find a home, or do we create it?
This is an unforgettable conversation about identity, history, and the invisible ties that connect us to our past. If you’ve ever wondered how much of your family’s story shapes who you are today, this episode is for you.
Let’s welcome to The Not Old – Better Show, writer, entrepreneur, and world traveler, Caroline Topperman.
And now, your host, the award-winning Paul Vogelzang.
My thanks to Acorns for sponsoring today’s episode. Acorns. Acorns makes it easy for everyone to start saving and investing—my thanks to Caroline Topperman
and her time and patience and willingness to answer our questions. My thanks to you our wonderful audience here on radio and podcast. Be well, be safe, and Let’s Talk About Better™ The Not Old Better Show on radio and podcast. Thanks, everybody, and we’ll see you next week.