In 19th-century America almost anyone could print their own money – and many did. One of the most notable figures to take this up was a man named James Brown, a charismatic conman who built a fortune producing fake banknotes. In this episode of The Story of Money, Stephen Mihm, a professor of history at the University of Georgia, introduces hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth to “the hardest working man in counterfeiting”. They discuss the parallels between banking in the Wild West and the advent of cryptocurrencies today, and the role trust plays in all financial systems.
Further reading:
A Nation of Counterfeiters: Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the United States, by Stephen Mihm (2007)
The Square and Tower: Networks, Hierarchies and the Struggle for Global Power, by Niall Ferguson (2018)
To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, and also follow the show's dedicated YouTube channel here.
Learn more at ft.com/tsom
Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth
Guest: Stephen Mihm
Producer: Lulu Smyth
Senior Producer: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight
Executive Producers: Flo Phillips and Manuela Saragosa
Original music: Breen Turner
Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Giuompasis
Podcast Development: Laura Clarke
FT Global Head of Audio: Cheryl Brumley
Video editor: Kristen Kenyon at Podcast Discovery
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
