The West Transformed is a comprehensive, mainstream introductory Western Civilization or European History textbook. It covers a variety of fields of history including social history, but stresses traditional topics and a strong narrative. The development of civilization in the West is presented as a series of cultural, technological, social, and political transformations. A strong unifying theme focuses on the tensions between continuity and change in human affairs.
A specialist in medieval English history, Charles Warren Hollister graduated with honors from Harvard University in 1951 and received his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1958. He was one of the founding members of the University of California Santa Barbara history department, where he taught until his retirement in 1994.