The individual, super specific information we discussed revealed the war's impact in a different way than wide, textbook strokes. The Civil War affected individuals in diverse ways - Ayers demonstrated that it was the onset of the War itself that polarized people. As Horwitz showed, the War continues to be discussed and used today. Before the War, Americans were citizens of different states, through the War, they became citizens of different regions, and after the War, they became citizens of one country, albeit with strong (at least in the South) regional ties. In an interesting way, the Civil War actually served to unite Americans perhaps . . .