Introduction John Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel proves that politics never really changes. Ambition, betrayal, and even fake news—Dryden wrote about them in 1681, yet his themes still feel modern today. The poem was composed during the Exclusion Crisis, a time when Parliament sought to exclude James, the Catholic brother of King Charles II, from inheriting the throne. Many politicians and citizens instead backed the king’s illegitimate Protestant son, the Duke of Monmouth, hoping he would continue Protestant rule. In this tense...