Political Animals cover art

Political Animals

How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics

Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Political Animals

By: Rick Shenkman
Narrated by: Tom Zingarelli
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £20.99

Buy Now for £20.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Can 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 best-selling historian Rick Shenkman shows in Political Animals, our world is anything but rational.

This isn't because we aren't smart. Instead, modern cues are setting off ancient, instinctive responses that worked to keep us safe in the Stone Age but lead us astray today. Pop culture tells us we can trust our instincts. But science is demonstrating that when it comes to politics, our Stone Age brains can malfunction and misfire. Fortunately, we can learn to override our instincts and ensure that they work in our favor.

Drawing on science, politics, and history, Shenkman explores the hidden reasons behind our political choices and uncovers the invisible forces that are truly responsible for victory or defeat at the ballot box.

©2016 Rick Shenkman (P)2016 Tantor
Civics & Citizenship Elections & Political Process Political Science Politics & Government Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Psychology & Interactions Vietnam War Political Animals

Listeners also enjoyed...

Addicted to Outrage cover art
The Leap cover art
Republican Like Me cover art
Conservatives Without Conscience cover art
The Republican Brain cover art
Bannon cover art
Our Search for Belonging: How Our Need to Connect Is Tearing Us Apart cover art
Don't Even Think About It cover art
True Enough cover art
Under Fire cover art
Mad Politics cover art
The Art of Tough cover art
Superforecasting cover art
The Great Awakening cover art
Things That Matter cover art
The Righteous Mind cover art

Critic reviews

"An amiable tour of the socioscientific evidence that accounts for our political miscalculations." ( Kirkus)
No reviews yet