Rick Shenkman
HNN
Seattle, WA, United States
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Past articles by Rick:
Top 5 Myths About the Fourth of July!
7-8-03 Top 5 Myths About the Fourth of July! Fact & Fiction tags: Rick Shenkman, myths, Independence Day, July 4, Fourth of July by Rick Shenkman Rick Shenkman is the editor of the History News Network and the author of the forthcoming book, Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics (Basic Books, 2015). Credit: Wiki Commons. #1 Independence Was Declared on… → Read More
Rick Shenkman: Why Can’t Americans Accept the Fact that Columbus Was Not a Hero?
Oct. 3, 2018 – Rick Shenkman is the publisher of the History News Network and the author of Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics (Basic Books, January 2016), from which this article is drawn. You can follow him on Twitter. He blogs at stoneagebrain. We go through this every year. The calendar says it’s Columbus Day and so Americans celebrate the man the… → Read More
Is There Anything to Donald Trump's Claim that George Washington Had Skeletons in His Closet?
Here's what we know. → Read More
Manisha Sinha got death threats after writing an article comparing Donald Trump to Andrew Johnson
The UMass Amherst professor is fine. The suspect has been identified. → Read More
The Psychology Behind the Trump Cult
The human brain does not like cognitive dissonance. Rather than live with contradiction, we figure out a way to reduce it. How far are we willing to go to do this? Pretty far. A psychological mechanism inclines us toward consistency, especially when our beliefs and behavior are in conflict. While we often hold contradictory views, obvious contradictions make us feel uncomfortable. By nature we… → Read More
Here’s How Many Presidents Lied About Their Medical History
Presidents have told more lies about their health than any other subject. → Read More
Rick Shenkman: The Malcolm Gladwell Presidency
April 2, 2018 – Rick Shenkman is the publisher of the History News Network and the author of Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics (Basic Books, January 2016). You can follow him on Twitter. He blogs at stoneagebrain. In the last few weeks President Trump has replaced both his secretary of state and his national security advisor. Each move came amid reports… → Read More
The Malcolm Gladwell Presidency
Rick Shenkman is the publisher of the History News Network and the author of Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics (Basic Books, January 2016). You can follow him on Twitter. He blogs at stoneagebrain. In the last few weeks President Trump has replaced both his secretary of state and his national security advisor. Each move came amid reports that he was… → Read More
Rick Shenkman: Why This Was the Generation Cursed with a Donald Trump
March 17, 2018 – Rick Shenkman is the publisher of the History News Network and the author of Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics (Basic Books, January 2016). You can follow him on Twitter. He blogs at stoneagebrain. Here’s a question we need to be thinking about. Why did a Donald Trump arise now? The answer at first glance is that he is sui generis. But… → Read More
Why This Was the Generation Cursed with a Donald Trump
The answer is not obvious. → Read More
Americans Have Again Ranked JFK Among the 3 Best Modern Presidents
Are they crazy? → Read More
Why Stories Are so Important in Politics
Something every budding candidate for president in 2020 should keep in mind. → Read More
Is Facebook’s Decision to Downplay Politics Really a Blow to Journalism?
Facebook’s decision isn’t a big blow to the media. It’s an opportunity. All the media have to do is show the imagination to seize the moment. Carpe Diem ... → Read More
Sexual Harassment: AHA to survey its members
The survey will be used to determine how big a problem the profession has. It will be distributed shortly. → Read More
Do Historians Have a Sexual Harassment Problem?
A survey by the Chronicle of Higher Ed implicates scores of historians. → Read More
The 2018 AHA Annual Meeting: Videos, News, Everything
What is happening at the AHA this year! → Read More
Country Guitarist Changes His Mind on Gun Control after Vegas: Why That's Not Surprising.
Caleb Keeter is a member of the country group that was performing on stage when a shooter began spraying the area with bullets fired from guns equipped to work like a machine gun. In the hours after the shooting Keeter took to Twitter to explain that he had changed his mind about gun control. Now he supports it. This blog post, by Rick Shenkman, the editor of HNN, explains why we shouldn't be… → Read More
Old Glory: Patriotic Symbol?
Nothing seems more natural to an American than to venerate the patriotic symbols that represent America. They are virtually sacred. Scornful as we are of the candidate who wraps himself in the flag, it is often the candidate who fails to do so who loses. > Courageous Patriots have fought and died for our great American Flag --- we MUST honor and respect it! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! — Donald… → Read More
The Relevance of History
Forty years ago this week one of America’s most highly esteemed historians, David Herbert Donald, penned an op ed in the New York Times that many found shocking. Donald, a Harvard professor, explained that he had reached the conclusion that history is irrelevant and that he intended to convince his students of this when classes began in the coming weeks. This was like hearing from Julia Child… → Read More
Male Historians Have Long Dominated Public Debates. Is Charlottesville a Turning Point?
In the immediate aftermath of the horrific Charlottesville march and neo-Nazi melee, the mainstream media turned mainly to male historians for comment – just as they always have. A check of the New York Times Race page shows that the first historian quoted in the paper was Ed Ayers, the former president of the University of Richmond. That was on August 13, two days after the initial march. On… → Read More