Jacob Goldstein
Jacob Goldstein spent more than a decade as co-host of the Planet Money podcast. He's also the author of the book Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing, which the New…
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Frederic Tudor could get ice any time he wanted. He lived in chilly Boston and his family had a lake that froze over in the winter. Harvesting ice and storing it was a normal thing in New England in the 1800s, but Frederic decided he’d make a fortune if he could ship ice to the warmest places on earth. And everyone thought this was the dumbest business idea of all time!
No one would back Frederic’s plan – no one would even let him rent a ship to carry his ice. For decades he tried and failed to get his ice business running. He even ended up broke and in jail. But finally he prevailed and became a wealthy and celebrated figure – who changed the world.
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The Hosts
Robert Smith
Robert Smith, co-host of the Business History podcast, is a Professor of Journalism at Columbia University and contributing host of NPR's Planet Money where he tells stories about how the…
