Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra
5.0/5
Critic Rating
5.0/5
Listener Rating
As a new authoritarian movement rises in American politics, stoked by one of the country’s most outrageous demagogues, there is an all-out international manhunt for an American traitor. The U.S. Army’s Nazi war crimes trials in Germany have been infiltrated by a spy -- a mole for the other side. A gruesome foreign influence operation unfolds in Washington. A blackmail plot turns deadly in the U.S. Senate. A Hail Mary scheme to stop the counting of the Electoral College votes rattles democracy’s cage. With the line between the violent ultra-right and mainstream American politics fraying beyond...
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Lauren Passell • Podcast The Newsletter • Jul 1, 2024
"(Season 2) The tone and structure is similar. And the story line is eerily similar, too. Our political leaders who have dabbled in fascism don’t disappear, they go underground. And this show is about what happens when anti democratic forces get let back in. And that’s why I anticipate seasons three, four, five, six, seven, etc. Rachel, I’m scared."
Score: 5
Nicholas Quah • Vulture • Jun 13, 2024
"(Season 2)...an unsettling and largely forgotten political mystery...A thing you might mull over listening to Ultra: This country’s need for reckonings on so many levels has been clear for a long time..."
Score: 5
Lauren Passell • Podcast The Newsletter • Jan 2, 2023
"I was late to listen to Rachel Maddow’s Ultra—I don’t think the name or cover art accurately captures what a wild, fascinating ride it is. The story is anxiety-inducing but Rachel’s storytelling style is calming, somehow. If you weren’t listening the words, you might think she was reading you a pop-up book at the children’s library, making the complexities are easy to follow."
Score: 5
Emilio • Everything Nonfiction • Nov 27, 2022
"Rachel makes good use of embedding audio from recent interviews as well as audio from various archives."
Score: 5
Paul Levinson • Vocal Media - Swamp • Oct 11, 2022
" Its vivid exploration of the fascist right-cadre in America in the late 1930s and (thus far in the podcast) 1940 offer a chilling, stunning historical precedent for what is threatening America right now. The parallels to today's America are undeniable and frightening. I always tell my students that everything in the news today has historical precedents. I'm looking forward to Rachel Maddow's unique reporting on them in her Ultra podcast (and kudos not only to Maddow but Mike Yarvitz and Kelsey Desiderio, who helped her create this chillingly important podcast). I can't think of more crucial listening in our world today."
Score: 5
Joe Pompeo • Vanity Fair • Oct 9, 2022
"In vivid, narrative style, the MSNBC host’s latest audio series, Ultra, transports listeners to the early 1940s...Get your popcorn out, because the pod’s ready for showtime. As Maddow fans might expect, it begins with a rabbit-hole-style windup that sucks you in before you know what you’re getting sucked into. It’s a history lesson worth taking given the fragile state of American democracy in 2022..."
Listener Reviews
Score: 5
Cheryl H • Nov 30, 2022
"ULTRA is revelatory and riveting. Once I started listening I couldn't wait for the next episode. I'm so thankful that Rachel and her team saw fit to bring America up to date on what appears to be a repeat of history. The last episode in particular is a mandate for all Americans to do their part to fight fascism which is being perpetrated by the Republican Party. I was not happy when Rachel left to do this work but now I see why it was vitally necessary. Thank you!"
