Chapter 8: Hard Times

Chapter 8: Hard Times

Author: Crooked Media July 14, 2022 Duration: 44:47
The end of the Vietnam War means the end of the Weather Underground. Zayd’s parents and their radical comrades, still on the run from the FBI, plan a different kind of future. For more of the story, check out: Emile de Antonio, Underground (1976)Mona Rocha, The Weatherwomen: Militant Feminists of the Weather Underground (2020)

There’s a story Zayd Dohrn grew up hearing, but never the whole thing. Mother Country Radicals is that story, told from the inside. Born while his parents were fugitives, Dohrn guides us into the turbulent reality of the 1970s Weather Underground, not as a distant history lesson, but as a personal excavation. This Crooked Media podcast moves beyond the headlines of bombings and confrontations at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol to explore the intimate human costs and convictions that fueled a movement. We hear about the chaotic street fights in Chicago, the perilous prison breaks, and the fraught alliances with Black militant groups, all through the lens of a family living on the run. It’s a narrative pieced together from fragmented memories and declassified files, asking what it means to inherit a legacy of rebellion and what was truly left behind in the smoke. Each episode builds a complex portrait of idealism, violence, and consequence, making this far more than a true-crime tale-it’s a deeply personal account of a chapter in American history that continues to echo, examining how the radical choices of a few young people aimed to shake a nation and what that struggle ultimately meant for their lives and for ours.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 14

Mother Country Radicals
Podcast Episodes
Bonus Episode: Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:17
DANGEROUS, DIRTY, VIOLENT AND YOUNG: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground, published by W. W. Norton & Company, comes out on May 19. The audio edition, read by Zayd Ayers Dohrn, will be published by Tantor…
Introducing Family Lore [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:16
Family Lore is a weekly narrative podcast that celebrates and investigates ancestral mystique. Each episode begins with a guest sharing a fascinating family legend, followed by a historical deep-dive to uncover the truth…
Bonus: Radical Family Histories (A Crossover with I Was Never There) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:18
Zayd sits down with his mom, Bernardine Dohrn, along with Jamie and Karen Zelermyer of Wonder Media Network’s I Was Never There to look back at the process of making a show so deeply rooted in personal family history. Ja…
Chapter 10: Inheritance [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:09
Zayd connects to other children of the underground. Out of the shards of the radical movements of the 1970s, a new generation fights to build a better future.For more of the story, check out: Chesa Boudin, Letters from Y…
Chapter 9: Revolutionary Suicide [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:15
Former members of the Weather Underground and the Black Liberation Army carry out one last action together, with deadly consequences that reverberate across generations. For more of the story, check out: Assata Shakur, A…
Chapter 7: The Belly of the Beast, Part II [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:43
The Weather Underground Organization and the Black Liberation Army go to war with the United States government.For more of the story, check out: The BLA, Black Liberation Army Papers (1963-1998)Sekou Odinga, Dhoruba Bin…
Chapter 6: The Belly of the Beast, Part I [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:13
The FBI targets the Weather Underground, and a split in the Black Panther Party gives rise to a new, more militant organization - the Black Liberation Army. For more of the story, check out: The Weather Underground, Prai…
Chapter 5: New Morning [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:45
The Weathermen go underground, and become famous - and infamous - as counter-culture outlaws.For more of the story, check out: Thai Jones, A Radical Line: From the Labor Movement to the Weather Underground (2004)Timothy…
Chapter 4: Bring the War Home [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:22
The Weathermen decide to bring the horrors of the Vietnam War back to America’s doorstep, planning an action that will change the future of the organization, and Zayd’s family, forever.For more of the story, check out: B…
Chapter 3: I Am A Revolutionary [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:56
Jamal Joseph is radicalized at 15, and joins the New York Black Panthers. And a deadly attack by Chicago Police puts both Panthers and Weathermen on a path towards violent revolution. For more of the story, check out: Ja…