Table of Contents
Introduction 6
Who Cares? 8
What's so good about politics, anyway?
Taking Charge? 10
Why people first started talking politics
ME, ME, ME 12
Autocrats and the first kings
For He's A Jolly Good Pharaoh 14
The god-kings of ancient Egypt
Awesome Athens 16
How Athens invented direct democracy…
Not-So-Awesome Athens 18
… but only for some
Kings And Consuls 20
Overthrowing a monarchy, Roman-style
Emperors And Empires 22
The first great empires
Managing On Merit 24
The invention of the civil service
Here's The Thing 26
The world's oldest parliament
To The East, Westminster 28
How England's parliament came to be
Serfs You Right 30
How land = power in medieval Europe
Naughty NicCold 32
Machiavelli's mischief in Renaissance Italy
Parliament I, King D 34
Things get uncivil in 1600s England
Locke's The Key 36
John Locke's radical ideas
Age Of Empires 38
How European powers set out to conquer the world
I Want To Break Free 40
America boots out the Brits
America Decides 42
The US builds a government from scratch
The Peasants Are Revolting! 44
The French Revolution gives monarchs the chop
Left Or Right 46
Understanding the political spectrum
Party Time! 48
All about political parties
Fed Up 50
"Big" and "small" government
Divvying It Up 52
Constituencies and electoral districts
Gerrymandering 54
Dastardly district-drawing
Rebel, Rebel 56
19th-century workers take to the streets
Marx My Words 58
Two German beards with big ideas
The Art Of Persuasion 60
Fighting dirty in 19th-century elections
Most Votes Wins 62
How elections work
Electoral Upgrades 64
Ideas for making elections fairer
Deeds Not Words 66
The struggle for women's suffrage
How To Steal An Election 68
Electoral fraud and vanishing votes
Communism And Fascism 70
The far left vs. the far right
The Sometimes United Nations 72
Politics at the international level
The Great 28 Oops, 27 74
How the European Union was formed
About Time! 76
How women won the vote
Independence Day 78
How colonies become countries
Coup You! 80
Bringing the big guns-military uprisings
Iron Grip 82
A guide to the modern autocrat
Restricted By Race 84
Segregation and voter suppression
But We Were Here First 86
The global fight for Indigenous rights
You're Kidding! 88
Why voting age matters
Going To The Polls 90
What to do on election day
Surprising Candidates 92
Beer, rhinos, and a bottle of foot powder
Good News And Bad News 94
How the media influences politics
Putting Pressure On 96
Interest groups and lobbyists
Making Change Happen 98
Activism from the ground up
Net Gains 100
How social media and the internet changed politics
No Success Without Excess? 102
The mind-boggling money behind elections
Power To The People 104
Staging an election in the world's biggest democracy
Tackling Turnout 106
Making sure those who can vote, do
Never Too Young 108
Politics-not just for old people
What Happens Next? 110
What might the future hold for politics?
Politics Timeline 112
Politically Peculiar 116
The weird and wacky world of politics
Politics Qu12 118
More Power To The People 120
Further reading and resources
Glossary 122
Index 124