Flashback: History's Unintended Conse...

A series of stories of disastrous turning points, dangerous ideas, crazy coincidences, unsung heroes and forgotten villains. From OZY’s Sean Braswell, host and creator of the chart-topping, Webby-nominated The Thread, comes a new show about how some of the best-laid plans can go horribly wrong, or prove unexpectedly magnificent. 

History
Society & Culture
1
Introducing The Future of X: Mobility
Everybody loves to move. How we choose to move will determine what life looks like for the next generation. OZY’s hit podcast franchise The Future of X is back, and this season we’re investigating the future of mobility with our friends at Ford. The future of mobility has the potential to electrify our imagination, sustain our planet and connect us like never before. If you want to see how we can get there, then get in and buckle up. It’s going to be a wild ride.
3 min
2
Introducing The Future of X: Farming
3 min
3
Introducing: ‘The Food That Built America’
4 min
4
Special Series: The Election Day Massacre. Part...
After the horrific violence of Election Day, 1920, in Ocoee, Florida, hundreds of Black families fled the town, never to return. White farmers took ownership of their lands. And the crimes of the mobs of white vigilantes - lynching, murders, arson, theft - were covered up for almost a century. Until now.
28 min
5
Special Series: The Election Day Massacre. Part 2.
Before the presidential election of 1920, the Klan marched through Florida to warn Black citizens not to vote. Newspapers across the state issued the same warning. When a prominent Black resident, Mose Norman, tried to cast his vote in the town of Ocoee, a mob of white vigilantes descended on the community. They exacted a terrible vengeance, starting with the family of a local Black leader, July Perry.Photo credit: Orange County Regional History Center
22 min
6
Special Series: The Election Day Massacre. Part 1.
The worst incident of election violence in American history happened a century ago on Election Day, 1920 in the town of Ocoee, Florida. The victims were hundreds of Black residents. The perpetrators were their white neighbors. And the reason was that Black citizens had gone to the polls and tried to vote.
25 min
7
Bonus Episode 9: The Surgery That Sparked the I...
Did President Ronald Reagan authorize selling arms to Iran while still recovering from major surgery in 1985?
8 min
8
Bonus Episode 8: How a Haircut Changed Music Hi...
After a 23-year-old Elvis Presley submitted to an Army barber in March 1958, rock and roll, and American life, were never quite the same.
12 min
9
Bonus Episode 7: Grace Kelly’s Fateful Trip to ...
In 1955, actress Grace Kelly journeyed to the Cannes Film Festival, setting in action a chain of events that would find her trading her Hollywood throne for a real one.
9 min
10
Bonus Episode 6: The Fatal Pitch That Changed B...
The tragic death of Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman in 1920 would help shape the future of baseball.
6 min
11
Bonus Episode 5: The Freak Bicycle Accident Beh...
Ludwig Bemelmans rode his bike down the wrong side of the road and into literary history when he dreamed up the beloved children’s book Madeline.
6 min
12
Bonus Episode 4: The Drunk Cop Who Brought Down...
If not for the fateful inaction of a single Washington, DC police officer, Watergate might never have happened.
6 min
13
Bonus Episode 3: The Newspaper Error That Spark...
When a newspaper mistakenly proclaimed Alfred Nobel dead in 1888, the inventor of dynamite set out to reinvent his legacy.
6 min
14
Bonus Episode 2: Your Unintended Consequences
Flashback listeners send us examples of the unexpected results of some historical events -- from two World Wars to an unfortunate landscaping trend.
6 min
15
Bonus Episode 1: The Hockey Injury That Launche...
Why the story of human flight begins on a frozen pond in Dayton, Ohio…and why there was only one Wright Brother with the Right Stuff.
9 min
16
FB 110: A Hollywood Ending: How One Inventor’s ...
The birth of Hollywood owes a surprising amount to the untimely demise of a single Frenchman.
30 min
17
FB 109: A Libertarian House on the Prairie: How...
A tale of rugged frontier individualism gone corporate, and how the Ingalls’ family farm led to the Koch brothers’ political machine.
35 min
18
FB 108: Matchmakers: How a Dangerous Discovery ...
The discovery of one of the most hazardous elements on earth helped spark the greatest underdog story in the history of human labor relations.
30 min
19
FB 107: A Tale of Two Pests: How Gypsy Moths an...
Gypsy moths and the invasive vine kudzu were supposed to be solutions. Instead they’re problems that seem to grow … and grow.
36 min
20
FB 106: An ‘Uncommonly Silly’ Law: How One Man’...
The backlash to a 19th century chastity law ended up sparking a far more controversial new freedom for women.
34 min
21
FB 105: High Hitler: How a Meth-Peddling Doctor...
Did one dictator’s chronic flatulence wind up causing needless suffering for millions?
34 min
22
FB 104: The Jordan Effect: How a Baseball Stri...
Michael Jordan’s famous sabbatical from professional basketball might have lasted much longer had Major League Baseball not experienced the worst strike in its history.
42 min
23
FB 103: AC/DC: How Air Conditioning Changed the...
Cooler homes transformed Americans’ lives — and eventually their government as well.
30 min
24
FB 102: Holy Smokes: How the YMCA Helped Launch...
The YMCA provided American soldiers with billions of cigarettes during World War I — and smugglers and terrorists with billions of new incentives to evade the law.
31 min
25
FB 101: McVeigh’s Mentor: How Henry Ford Inspir...
Hate speech is also something that can be mass-produced, and with disastrous consequences.
45 min