Rick ShenkmanCan a football game affect the outcome of an election?  What about shark attacks?  Or a drought?  In a rational world the answer, of course, would be no.  But as bestselling historian Rick Shenkman explains, our world is anything but rational.

Drawing on science, politics, and history, Rick explores the hidden forces behind our often illogical choices and focus.

Pop culture tells us we can trust our instincts, but science is proving that when it comes to politics our Stone Age brain often malfunctions, misfires, and leads us astray.

Fortunately, we can learn to make our instincts work in our favor.

Rick was engaging and illuminating.

Rick Shenkman is the founder of the popular History News Network, the website that features leading historians’ perspectives on current events. He can regularly be seen on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. He is a New York Times best-selling author of seven history books, including Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American HistoryPresidential Ambition: How the Presidents Gained Power, Kept Power and Got Things Done and  Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth About the American Voter (Basic Books, June 2008).

His latest book is Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics.