Join Michael Zeldin for a fascinating conversation with CNN's Dana Bash about her new book, The Elections That Changed the World: Fifteen Pivotal Moments That Shaped How We Live, co-authored with David Fisher.
From Julius Caesar to Nelson Mandela, Bash explores 15 pivotal moments in history that demonstrate how elections have shaped nations, transformed societies and changed the course of history.
Bash is CNN's chief political correspondent, anchor of Inside Politics with Dana Bash and co-anchor of State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. Based in Washington, D.C., she covers campaigns and Congress and regularly moderates CNN's political town halls.
Elections can bring economic prosperity, new solutions to longstanding problems and policies that improve people's lives. They can also lead to war, economic hardship and the loss of deeply held values. As Bash and Fisher demonstrate, elections matter, often in ways we cannot anticipate.
The book takes readers through some of history's most consequential moments, including:
Julius Caesar's election as praetor in ancient Rome.
The creation of the Mayflower Compact in 1620 aboard a ship anchored off Cape Cod.
The informal election that made Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association.
The selection of Pope John XXIII by the College of Cardinals.
The U.S. presidential elections of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The rise to power of leaders including Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, Clement Attlee and Adolf Hitler.
The election of the world's first female democratic leaders.
For anyone interested in history, leadership, democracy and the power of a single vote, this is a conversation worth hearing.
