This book investigates the core question of how the political, social, and cultural upheavals of the 1960s fundamentally reshaped the American landscape. Maurice Isserman, a historian of American radicalism, and Michael Kazin, a specialist in social movements, utilize their combined expertise to synthesize the complex events of the decade. They present a framework that views the era as a 'civil war' of values, tracking how competing ideologies clashed to alter the trajectory of national policy and public consciousness.

Experts and historians frequently cite this work as a foundational interpretive survey for understanding the complexities of the 1960s. Readers often note the clarity of the prose, which makes dense historical analysis accessible to both students and general readers.