Few of us are completely happy with the world as it is. But to change the future, you have to know the past. What actually happened? What ideas drove those events? The ideas are revealed not only in political slogans, but in such things as how business is regarded, what areas science is exploring, and what's popular in fiction, visual arts, architecture, film, and music. This timeline, with a multitude of illustrations, juxtaposes politics and culture. It's a scaffolding on which you can build a better understanding of the past and the present, and increase your ability to change the future.