Americans are asked to follow elections as though they are an endless competition: Who is ahead, who stumbled, whose clip went viral? The question that interests me most comes afterward: What happens when the campaigning ends, and governing begins?

A recent conversation with Dana Bash, CNN’s chief political correspondent, brought that question into focus. Her forthcoming book with David Fisher, The Elections That Changed the World: Fifteen Pivotal Moments That Shaped How We Live, out Sept. 22, explores choices whose consequences reached far beyond the people making them. Our discussion moved from those historic moments to her journalism journey, connected by a question about how we understand decisions that shape the next generation.