If you haven’t yet heard the amazing podcast MOTHER COUNTRY RADICALS, here are a few accolades to encourage you to do it now:
“Best Podcasts of the Week – a show that’s personal, insightful and hugely considered.”
– The Guardian
“Best Podcasts of 2022”
“The interviews that Zayd collects to construct these episodes are remarkable… What emerges is a robust portrait of an American era that was equal parts harrowing, volatile, and filled with genuine political imagination. Listening to the series right now provokes all sorts of feelings about where we are today, and where we might go.”
-Vulture
“Mother Country Radicals is a remarkable document. It’s detailed and layered and tricky at many turns. Zayd walks listeners through the experience and evolution of the group, carefully placing them within the context of its historical moment. He portrays the young people in the movement seriously and empathetically as ordinary people responding extraordinarily to the political problems of their time. And he’s largely successful, helped in no small part but the sheer strength of his recorded interviews… A vivid window into a historical moment when ordinary Americans looked upon the intractable problems of their time and radically reimagined how things could be… It’s hard to listen to these stories and not be stirred.”
-NPR, Fresh Air
“[Dohrn] combines poignant personal memories and political postmortem in a kind of oral history of the ’60s underground.”
– Buzzfeed
“A sensational and informative podcast”
-Counterpunch
Top Podcasts of 2022
“A wonderful investigation into the origin of activism and radicalization.”
NRC Handelsblad (Netherlands)
“Great story, even better executed… such an irresistible pitch that you just have to listen. [Dohrn’s] personal approach yields remarkable material.”
-De Standaard (Belgium)
“Zayd is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter, so the writing is understandably strong; the series is also nicely produced, with lots of archival clips interspersed throughout and a well-chosen soundtrack.”
– Stuff (New Zealand)
★★★★★ “Fascinating… Playwright and screenwriter Zayd Ayers Dohrn can tell about The Weathermen like no other ‘from the inside’. The insane true story of bombings, prison breaks and a dramatic final attack on a money transport in 1981 ultimately revolves around rock-solid principles and unshakable beliefs – and the price you pay for them.”
– De Volkskrant (Netherlands)
“Whether you’re a student of the history of American counter-culture, or you love a celebrity-family-history writ large, this is a long and decisive account of some of the most iconic figures in American history. Mother Country Radicals is a history written at the PhD dissertation level… Despite the dark and difficult questions that Zayd asks, there’s a shorthand familiarity to it all, which gives it levity and bounce. And to do this while shedding a giant spotlight on his family’s radical past and consider what it all means, with balanced journalism, historically accurate facts and actual footage, in a place where family legend and lore intertwine with misinformation and propaganda, is quietly huge.”
-Bingeworthy
Top Picks this Week, What We’re Listening To
-Stitcher
Best Podcasts this Week, Society & Culture Editor’s Picks
-Amazon Music
Best Podcasts of September “Offering a deep-dive into The Weather Underground (a radical activist group from the 1960s) and its role in America’s cultural and social revolution, this podcast is a personal, politically charged exploration of those who wanted change, by any means necessary.”
-Denizen
“A window into an extraordinary time in American history.”
-ABC Australia
“The podcast is compelling, as it combines the host’s own memories of his parents supplemented by interviews with them with historical accounts and recordings. It’s one of those “I was there” kind of podcasts that is a classic example of why some people love the medium so much: good stories.”
-First Draft
“This fascinating documentary series sees playwright and screenwriter Zayd Ayers Dohrn look back over his unusual childhood which was mostly spent on the run from the FBI.”
-Yorkshire Post (UK)
“I listened to the first three episodes of Mother Country Radicals at 1x speed (a rarity for me) because it’s so rich and detailed and I didn’t want to miss a nuanced breath or small detail… This is an unusual, important story well-told, and gives a voice to radical politics and the strategic extremes people will go take to change the world.”
-Podcast Newsletter
“A powerful, almost irresistible chronicle of the era of the US war against Vietnam and the Black Liberation movement… [part of] an essential context for truly understanding what happened and why – and can help with an understanding of what could happen again.”
-Hollywood Progressive
“Fascinating and insightful”
-Cincinnati Business Courier
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Pehal News (India)
Bill Ayers 