Long before skiing was mainstream in the United States, Stein Eriksen helped transform it from a niche activity into a lifestyle. This episode traces how a boy who grew up near the forests of Oslo, raised by ski-obsessed parents and shaped by war, discipline, and relentless training, went on to redefine what alpine skiing could be. We follow his path from dark wartime slopes in Norway to the bright mountains of Aspen, from Olympic glory to celebrity friendships, commercials, and ski resorts built around his name. Along the way, we explore how style, timing, and personality mattered as much as medals.

With the help of folklorist Thor Gotaas, this episode moves fast—packed with facts, anecdotes, and sharp turns—and shows how Stein Eriksen became skiing’s first true superstar.

In the 18th episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Thorstein Veblen, a Norwegian-American thinker who spent his life trying to understand why wealthy societies so often lose their way.

Veblen died in 1929, alone in a small cabin in California. No obituary appeared. His name had largely vanished from public conversation. Then the stock market crashed—and suddenly America remembered him.

Born to Norwegian immigrant parents on the Midwestern frontier, Veblen grew up in a tight-knit Norwegian community, culturally distant from the America that was rapidly industrializing around him. That distance gave him a peculiar vantage point. He watched the rise of great fortunes, railroads, monopolies, and financiers—and noticed something unsettling. Wealth, he argued, was increasingly detached from productive work and devoted instead to display.

In The Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen coined the term “conspicuous consumption,” not as a slogan, but as a diagnosis of a society that had begun to mistake waste for success.

This episode explores Veblen’s unlikely life—from Norwegian farm communities to elite universities—and why his ideas keep resurfacing during moments of economic crisis. It is a story about status, power, and a question that remains unresolved: what kind of prosperity actually serves society?

In the 17th episode of 200 Norwegians, you learn about Knut Hovden.

He was born on a storm-beaten island outside Bergen in 1880, a frail boy who couldn’t join the fishermen at sea. Instead, he watched, listened, and learned. While others hauled nets, he studied the science behind them. That curiosity carried him from a small coastal village to Norway’s leading fish-preservation school — and eventually far beyond Norway itself.

After the great fire of Ålesund in 1904, Hovden crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Monterey, California. There, he reshaped an entire industry. He invented machines, redesigned fishing methods, and turned a sleepy waterfront into the sardine capital of the world. His work fed soldiers in two world wars and helped build the booming canning empire that defined Cannery Row.

But his success came with consequences: pollution, overfishing, political battles, and a personal life marked by turmoil.