If you were asked to describe the United States and its history with a single word, what word would you choose? Perhaps you would choose powerful or exceptional, while others might select imperialistic or racist. But a strong argument can be also made for the word versatile. The story of American history tells us why. Since its founding, the United States has undergone a series of continual transformations. From coastal colony to continent spanning nation, from a rural agrarian society to an urbanized country, and from a regional into a global superpower, America has rarely stood still for long. Any nation capable of not only surviving but thriving under conditions of constant change must possess a high degree of versatility. America is a versatile nation.

But understanding exactly why and how those transformations occurred, who they benefited, who they harmed and why, is in danger of becoming lost knowledge. History has become so heavily politicized the actual facts of our past are being obscured, contradicted, ignored, and forgotten. To know our past, we must take ownership of both the accomplishments and the disasters. We must not celebrate the achievements too much nor dwell on the failures too long, and we cannot define our nation solely by one or the other. Instead let us face our history honestly and seek to learn and understand rather than to blame wrongdoers or worship heroes. Only through an unflinching look at the best and worst of our own past can we know where we as a people are headed in the future. That's what Versatile Nation attempts to provide.

The story focuses on the underlying ideas and the people who sought to live their lives by those ideas. It also grapples with where the forces of transformation came from, what triggered those changes, and how ordinary people sometimes responded with extraordinary solutions. One of the few things Americans today agree on is the need for better civics education and an improved understanding of our past. Versatile Nation attempts to make important contributions to both of those endeavors. We can choose to return the study of our history to a place of importance in our society, and Versatile Nation aspires to be a small part of that much larger effort.