We Didn't Start the Fire Series
May 19, 2017
This 10-part series I put out while on maternity leave from April-May 2017 features snapshots of history, as told through the lyrics to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire," beginning with an introduction to the song, itself.
We Didn't Start the Fire | Introduction (WDSTF Series, TSB051)
1949-1950: Harry Truman through Marilyn Monroe (WDSTF Series, TSB052)
In this episode:
- Harry Truman
- Doris Day
- Red China
- Johnnie Ray
- South Pacific
- Walter Winchell
- Joe DiMaggio
- Joe McCarthy
- Richard Nixon
- Studebaker
- Television
- North Korea/South Korea
- Marilyn Monroe
1951-1952: Rosenbergs through Santayana Goodbye (WDSTF Series, TSB053)
In this episode:
- Rosenbergs
- H-Bomb
- Sugar Ray
- Panmunjom
- Brando
- The King And I
- (and) The Catcher In The Rye
- Eisenhower
- Vaccine
- England's got a new queen
- Marciano
- Liberace
- Santayana goodbye
1953-1954: Joseph Stalin through Rock Around the Clock (WDSTF Series, TSB054)
In this episode:
- Joseph Stalin
- Malenkov
- Nasser
- (and) Prokofiev
- Rockefeller
- Campanella
- Communist Bloc
- Roy Cohn
- Juan Peron
- Toscanini
- Dacron
- Dien Bien Phu falls
- "Rock Around the Clock"
1955-1956: Einstein through Trouble in the Suez (WDSTF Series, TSB055)
In this episode:
- Einstein
- James Dean
- Brooklyn's got a winning team
- Davy Crockett
- Peter Pan
- Elvis Presley
- Disneyland
- Bardot
- Budapest
- Alabama
- Khrushchev
- Princess Grace
- Peyton Place
- Trouble in the Suez
1957-1958: Little Rock through Children of Thalidomide (WDSTF Series, TSB056)
In this episode:
- Little Rock
- Pasternak
- Mickey Mantle
- Kerouac
- Sputnik
- Zhou Enlai
- Bridge On The River Kwai
- Lebanon
- Charles de Gaulle
- California baseball
- Starkweather Homicide
- Children of Thalidomide
1959-1960: Buddy Holly through Belgians in the Congo (WDSTF Series, TSB057)
In this episode:
- Buddy Holly
- Ben-Hur
- Space Monkey
- Mafia
- Hula Hoops
- Castro
- Edsel is a no-go
- U-2
- Syngman Rhee
- Payola
- (and) Kennedy
- Chubby Checker
- Psycho
- Belgians in the Congo
1961-1963: Hemingway through JFK Blown Away (WDSTF Series, TSB058)
In this episode:
- Hemingway
- Eichmann
- Stranger in a Strange Land
- Dylan
- Berlin
- Bay of Pigs invasion
- Lawrence of Arabia
- British Beatlemania
- Ole Miss
- John Glenn
- Liston beats Patterson
- Pope Paul
- Malcolm X
- British politician sex
- J.F.K. blown away (what else do I have to say?)
1964-1989 Part 1: Birth Control through Russians in Afghanistan (WDSTF Series, TSB059)
In this episode:
- Birth control
- Ho Chi Minh
- Richard Nixon back again
- Moonshot
- Woodstock
- Watergate
- Punk rock
- Begin
- Reagan
- Palestine
- Terror on the airline
- Ayatollah's in Iran
- Russians in Afghanistan
1964-1989 Part 2: Wheel of Fortune through Rock and Roller Cola Wars (WDSTF Series, TSB060)
In this episode:
- Wheel of Fortune
- Sally Ride
- Heavy metal suicide
- Foreign debts
- Homeless Vets
- AIDS
- Crack
- Bernie Goetz
- Hypodermics on the shores
- China's under martial law
- Rock and Roller cola wars (I can't take it anymore)
