World history textbooks generally focus on politics, culture, and ideas. A People's History of the World takes a fundamentally different approach to understanding the nature of change over time on a global scale. Although politics, the history of ideas, and culture receive considerable attention, the ideas and cultural practices that animated the masses are given pride of place. This methodology reveals underlying continuities that are often masked when the frame is history from the top down. For today's students who often feel isolated from elites and frustrated by the difficulties of enacting change, a different approach can be both illuminating and empowering. From the ground up, global history looks quite different.