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Business History

Pushkin
  • 4,5 (75)
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It’s the history of business. How did Hitler’s favorite car become synonymous with hippies? What got Thomas Edison tangled up with the electric chair? Did someone murder the guy who invented the movies? Former Planet Money hosts Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith examine the surprising stories of businesses big and small and find out what you can learn from those who founded them.

  1. -4 J

    War, Exploration and Beer: How the Tin Can Changed the World

    Old-fashioned ways of preserving food made for salty, vinegary or chewy meals - but it was often a choice between that or starving. Soldiers, explorers and ordinary people alike faced malnutrition and food poisoning - but then came a French revolution... in a can!  First invented in Napoleonic France, the humble can would feed armies; sustain bold exploration; and give poor people access to wholesome food all year round. We don't think about the tin can much today, but its history is filled with skullduggery, vast riches and deadly choking hazards.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    56 min
  2. The War on The A&P: When America Decided Cheap Groceries Were "Evil"

    18 FÉVR.

    The War on The A&P: When America Decided Cheap Groceries Were "Evil"

    Mom and Pops grocery stores were charming, but inefficient. They contributed to Americans either spending a lot on their food or having to go hungry. The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company changed the entire model. The A&P established a chain of stores selling branded goods at the lowest prices.   The A&P kept its profit margins slim and allowed Americans to buy more food for less - but this wasn't celebrated as a success story. Politicians, radio stars and vested interests ganged together to hound The A&P. They demanded the grocery chain change its strategy, raise prices and even put its owners on trial on criminal charges. So why didn't America like cheap groceries?   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    48 min
  3. How To Dig a Train Tunnel Under the Hudson River (from HISTORY This Week)

    16 FÉVR. · BONUS

    How To Dig a Train Tunnel Under the Hudson River (from HISTORY This Week)

    For more historical deep dives just like these, check out HISTORY This Week wherever you get your podcasts! February 14, 1905. A stick of dynamite detonates under the Hudson River — and the ground above swallows a locomotive whole. It's the latest setback in an audacious plan to tunnel beneath the river and bring trains into Manhattan. The Pennsylvania Railroad is the largest corporation in the world, but the goopy riverbed keeps fighting back. How did they finally break through? And why are these 115-year-old tunnels still the most critical infrastructure in America? Special thanks to our guests: Polly Desjarlais, content and research manager at the New York Transit Museum; Jill Jonnes, author of Conquering Gotham: A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its Tunnels; and Andy Sparberg, former LIRR manager, transit historian, and author of From a Nickel to a Token: The Journey from Board of Transportation to MTA. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    34 min
  4. When E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Tanked Atari

    11 FÉVR.

    When E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Tanked Atari

    Nolan Bushnell loved weed, hot tubs and games... especially games. He took computer games out of the laboratory and put them in bars. His arcade game Pong was a monster hit, so he set up Atari to build a home games console which became the must-have Christmas present of 1975.  Atari was the name on every kid's lips... but then investors came onboard to help the company expand. Bushnell and his engineers were sidelined, and Atari embarked on a crazy plan to rush out a game based on Spielberg's movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. It was so bad... it sank Atari. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    50 min
  5. How a Bad Boss Kickstarted Silicon Valley

    4 FÉVR.

    How a Bad Boss Kickstarted Silicon Valley

    William Shockley was an electronics genius - he even won a Nobel Prize - but he was an awful boss. Shockley was a cruel, paranoid micromanager. And this annoyed the staff of brilliant young engineers he'd assembled in a quiet town in Northern California. In fact, they quit and set up a company of their own inventing silicon chips.    Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore and the rest of "The Traitorous Eight" transformed computing, but also blazed a trail for the tech founders who would flock to Silicon Valley and change the world. Members of "The Traitorous Eight" set up Intel and AMD, while also funding businesses such as Google and Slack.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    48 min
  6. Sears: Cocaine Wine, Shotguns, and the World’s Tallest Tower

    28 JANV.

    Sears: Cocaine Wine, Shotguns, and the World’s Tallest Tower

    Richard Warren Sears started off selling pocket watches - then published a catalog full of hundreds and hundreds of products from shotguns to cocaine wine. Sears & Roebuck offered even Americans living on remote farms the chance to shop like city dwellers. The catalog became an American institution - the Amazon of the 1890s - but as the nation changed, Sears adapted too and built a vast chain of physical stores.  Sears felt so secure that it built the world's tallest office building to house all its staff - but then came competition from specialist big-box stores and out-of-town megastores. Sears found itself in a death spiral and couldn't pull out. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    43 min
  7. De-Nazifying the Love Bug: The VW Beetle Story Part II

    21 JANV.

    De-Nazifying the Love Bug: The VW Beetle Story Part II

    It's 1945. The Volkswagen factory has been bombed and members of the staff have been arrested as war criminals. So how did the company turn around in just a few years and begin making Beetle cars that became a global sensation? Big political and economic moves helped - but a British Army officer, Walt Disney and a New York ad agency also played pivotal roles in turning a car that Hitler had championed into the favourite ride of surfers, school teachers and hippies.       See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    42 min
  8. Hitler's Gift to the Hippies: The VW Beetle Story Part I

    14 JANV.

    Hitler's Gift to the Hippies: The VW Beetle Story Part I

    The VW Beetle was the biggest selling car of all time - and it found particular favor with people like hippies and surfers. But this icon of the 60s counterculture had its roots in Nazism. The Volkswagen - the People's Car - was an obsession of Adolf Hitler. He wanted to transform Germany into a land of drivers - and needed an affordable, but reliable automobile.    Germany's private auto manufacturers knew the project was doomed to failure. So Hitler assembled a team of designers and factory managers to enact his vision - even if that meant enslaving workers and committing murder.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    34 min
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À propos

It’s the history of business. How did Hitler’s favorite car become synonymous with hippies? What got Thomas Edison tangled up with the electric chair? Did someone murder the guy who invented the movies? Former Planet Money hosts Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith examine the surprising stories of businesses big and small and find out what you can learn from those who founded them.

Informations

  • Chaîne
    Pushkin
  • Création
    Pushkin Industries
  • Années d’activité
    2025 - 2026
  • Épisodes
    18
  • Classification
    Contenu explicite
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Pushkin Industries 2025
  • Site web de l’émission
    Business History
  • Fournisseur
    Pushkin Industries Inc.

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