Lost and Found: Caroline Topperman on Family, Identity, and the Search for Home
Release Date: 04/07/2025
Would You Have Followed Joseph Smith? Faith, Power, and the Price of Trust
The Not Old - Better Show
Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) was one of the most successful and controversial religious leaders of 19th-century America, publishing the Book of Mormon and starting what would become the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He built temples, founded a city-state in Illinois, ran for president, and married more than 30 women. This self-made prophet thrilled his followers with his grand vision of peace and unity, but his increasingly grandiose plans tested and sometimes shattered their faith. John G. Turner, professor of religious studies and history at George Mason University, presents...
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Snack Smarter, Spend Less (healthy bites that won't bust your grocery budget)
The Not Old - Better Show
You know the moment. You’re standing in the grocery aisle with a small bag of snacks in your hand. The front says “high protein.” The price says seven dollars. And you’re wondering whether it will actually taste good, fill you up, or be worth buying again. I’m Paul Vogelzang, and this is The Not Old Better Show. Welcome to another conversation in our Good Better Best series with Good Housekeeping. Stef Sassos is back with us. She leads Good Housekeeping’s Nutrition and Fitness Lab, where food claims and popular trends get a closer look. Today, I’m asking her to help us shop with...
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Before We Knew the Ending: America, Fascism, and the Warnings We Were Still Learning to Hear William I. Hitchcock on A Shadow Over the World
The Not Old - Better Show
⚠️ History looks obvious after we know the ending. Living through it is another matter entirely. That idea shaped my conversation with historian William I. Hitchcock, author of A Shadow Over the World. Americans in the 1930s were not reading a history book. They were listening to radio broadcasts, reading competing newspaper accounts, hearing political speeches, and trying to decide whether events overseas represented another European crisis or something far more dangerous. 🎙️ Our conversation asks some uncomfortable questions. Why were intelligent Americans so divided? Why did some...
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🎙️ Your Home, Your Taste: Good Housekeeping’s Lis Engelhart on Timeless Style, Holiday Smarts & Ignoring the Influencer Noise
The Not Old - Better Show
🏡 What happens when home design stops being about trends and starts being about judgment? That question is at the center of my latest conversation with Lis Engelhart, Visual Styling Director at Good Housekeeping, for our Good Better Best Interview Series on The Not Old Better Show. Lis has spent years creating beautiful spaces for magazines and real people. But what interested me most was her belief that a home should work for the people who actually live there. Not the imaginary version of ourselves we think we’re supposed to become. Not the algorithm. Not the latest design trend. 🎄...
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🔧 One Month Became Eight Years: Tim Leatherman and the Tool That Built a Life 🧰
The Not Old - Better Show
A loose bolt. A leaking pipe. A car that refuses to cooperate. Most of us see aggravation. Tim Leatherman saw an invention. In 1975, Tim and his wife, Chau, were traveling through Europe on a tight budget in a temperamental $300 Fiat. Tim carried a scout knife, but every roadside repair and questionable hotel sink left him wishing for one more thing. Pliers. He wrote down four words: “Add pliers to pocketknife.” Simple idea. Brutal journey. Tim thought he could build the prototype in one month. It took three years. Then came rejection after rejection. Knife companies said it was a tool....
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No Power. No Pharmacy. Now What? 🔦💊 Dr. Sue Anne Bell on Emergency Preparedness After 60
The Not Old - Better Show
🚨 NO POWER. NO PHARMACY. NOW WHAT? 🔦💊 We tend to think about emergency preparedness as bottled water, flashlights and a go-bag. But after 60, preparedness can become much more complicated. What happens when the systems supporting our everyday independence suddenly aren’t available? For this National Preparedness Month edition of The Not Old Better Show, I speak with University of Michigan disaster researcher and experienced disaster responder Dr. Sue Anne Bell. Her work asks us to think beyond the emergency itself and consider what happens when healthcare, medications, electricity,...
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Small Home Fixes, Big Peace of Mind 🏠
The Not Old - Better Show
🏠 Small home fixes can bring big peace of mind. Dan DiClerico, Home Improvement and Outdoor Director at the Good Housekeeping Institute, returns to The Not Old Better Show with practical advice for making home life safer, brighter, and easier. We talk no-electrician kitchen lighting, including under-cabinet upgrades, simple mosquito protection without a science lecture, indoor air quality basics, and smart water leak detectors that can warn you before a small leak becomes a costly mess. For adults 60+, this is about comfort, confidence, and staying ahead of problems at home. 🎙️ Listen...
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Still in the Groove: Martha Reeves Keeps Searching
The Not Old - Better Show
Still in the Groove: Martha Reeves Keeps Searching 🎙️ What does a life of creative longevity sound like? In Martha Reeves’ case, it still has plenty of rhythm, purpose and joy. 💃🏾🎶 Martha Reeves has spent more than six decades giving people reasons to dance. Her voice powered Motown landmarks like “Dancing in the Street,” “Heat Wave,” “Jimmy Mack,” and “Nowhere to Run,” songs that still spill from radios and playlists with enough spark to lift a room. Now, as she approaches her 85th birthday, Reeves isn’t interested in nostalgia. She’s still chasing the next...
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Your Cells Are Changing: Roxanne Khamsi on the DNA We Acquire as We Age
The Not Old - Better Show
Right now, inside your body, cells are dividing. Each time they divide, they must copy an enormous instruction manual: your DNA. Most copies are remarkably accurate. Some acquire changes. We tend to think of DNA as fixed. You receive it from your parents, carry it through life, and perhaps pass part of it to your children. But scientists are finding that inheritance is only the opening chapter. As we grow older, our cells collect mutations. Sunlight can leave its mark on skin cells. Tobacco smoke can alter cells in the lungs. Inflammation, infection, copying errors, environmental exposures,...
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From Peacocks to Penguins: Chloe Chapin on the Sartorial Revolution
The Not Old - Better Show
👔 The most powerful costume may be the one we stopped noticing. In Suitable: The Sartorial Revolution and the Fashioning of Modern Men, fashion historian and former Broadway costume designer Chloe Chapin follows an extraordinary transformation. Men moved from colorful coats, patterned waistcoats, and elaborate display to the plain, dark suit. That change carried political meaning. During the early American republic, restrained clothing came to represent democracy, rationality, masculinity, seriousness, and public authority. Plainness became a choice that looked increasingly natural. Chapin...
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.