In today's Conversation, we spoke with Dr. Hector Garcia, evolutionary psychologist and author of Sex, Power, and Partisanship--- How Evolutionary Science Makes Sense of Our Political Divide.
Drawing on evidence from chimpanzee behavior, the bones and relics of stone age societies, DNA, contemporary hunter-gatherer communities, and pre-modern religious texts, Dr. Garcia explains how modern-day political affiliations reflect gender-based strategies for survival and reproductive success.
He also explains the deep roots of our attitudes toward leadership, the social safety net, taxation, war, peace, religion, race, immigration, social equality, marriage and adultery.
Juliet Blake, Head of Television for TED Talks, said, “This book will have a profound effect on how you view political discourse, immigration issues, women’s rights, and, yes, even Donald Trump.”
Dr. Garcia is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
A nationally-recognized expert on helping combat veterans recover from the traumas of war, his TED Talk on innovative ways to address Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has received more than one million views.
His previous book was Alpha God: The Psychology of Religious Violence and Oppression, an original thesis that our conceptions of a monotheistic God derive from our inborn deference to the Alpha Male — the big man or big chimp.
Sebastian Junger, bestselling author of War and The Perfect Storm, said, “It's been a long time since a book has stunned me like this one has."
We support local, independent booksellers and Hector Garcia's books are available at the independent Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza:
Sex, Power, and Partisanship: How Evolutionary Science Makes Sense of Our Political Divide
Alpha God: The Psychology of Religious Violence and Oppression: https://www.bhny.com/book/9781633880207
More Hector Garcia
VIDEO: "Sebastian Junger and Hector Garcia discuss the evolutionary psychology of sexual competition, war, and political partisanship." March 15, 2019