Called America's second revolution by some historians, the Civil War produced many changes that went far beyond military matters. In many respects, a different nation emerged from the conflict than the one that entered it. Professor William Hesseltine accurately described the war as "the fiery crucible in which the old nation was melted down and out of which modern America was poured." Nothing—from the nature of the presidency to the nature of social life, from how war was conducted to how public opinion was managed—escaped that fiery crucible.

A Nation Transformed is a comprehensive look at how the conflict changed the growing nation. Readers will be surprised at how deeply the war affected the United States, which was indeed transformed by it and would never again be the same.