"Back in the summer of 2018, my then editor at Sage, Scott Greenan, asked me to pitch an idea for an introductory comparative politics textbook. His request surprised me; I had never considered such a project. After reflection, however, I realized that I had been frustrated with existing texts, and years before developed my own approach. It was influenced by my desire to ignite student interest in politics, my research and in-class efforts on gender and inclusive pedagogy, and the new ideas that my younger colleagues were sharing with me. The result follows, and my efforts have proceeded from four starting priorities-to integrate gender, geography, question answering, and interaction-into a readable book that provides a high-quality introduction to the subfield of comparative politics. In terms of gender, identity-blind lenses have given too many political scientists an inadequate view of the field. Moreover, anyone who takes gender seriously acknowledges the importance of other dimensions of privilege in an intersectional approach, recognizing that time, place, and various elements of identity affect how one experiences the world. As I proceeded with the project, Black Lives Matter, #SayHerName, and the COVID-19 pandemic, among other developments, have underlined the importance of this book's commitment to gender and intersections, although data constraints often limit my intersectional ambitions"--