He yelled. America listened. Mary had seen her fill of tragedy when she stumbled into the 'Shrine of the Little Flower' and first met Father Coughlin in 1933. The Great Depression killed her mom and left her dad hollowed out, so she took charge of her 8 brothers and sisters. But until she heard him speak, nothing seemed to make sense. Now she saw her life's purpose laid out before her eyes. And Mary wasn't alone. As WWII approached and the Great Depression battered the country, over 1 in 4 Americans regularly tuned in (and gave money) to FDR's greatest rival, the fiery Catholic radio priest, Father Coughlin. Then, something changed about Father Coughlin's message. And before she knew it, Mary found herself part of a movement built on anger and fueled by hate. Seen through the eyes of a woman coming of age in the 1930s who gets swept up in the fervor for Coughlin's magnetic appeal, Hate Radio is the very personal story of the rise and crashing fall of Coughlin, as his pro-fascist, anti-Jewish message becomes too much for Mary (and the US government) to take.