This picture book takes inspiration as its theme: depicting key individuals, pioneers and leaders - from George Washington Carver to Barack Obama - both as trailblazers and builders on the legacy of preceding generations. The format echoes this notion of collaborative effort, using twelve different illustrators to imagine the crucial links in this chain of history and a minimal text inspired by the poetic shorthand and slogans that featured in the 2008 U.S.Presidential election campaign. An afterword gives brief biographies of the featured individuals.