If the North Had Won the Civil War is two books in one. The modern story follows Stonewall Jackson "Jack" Sawyer, a history professor in the Twenty-First Century Confederate States of America. Jack writes an alternate history called If the North Had Won the Civil War in the CSA, where publication of his book is a criminal offense. The story depicts a nightmarish modern-day Confederacy where any person with a drop of black blood in his veins is denied basic human rights and confined to a "Preserve."

Interwoven with the story of Jack is Jack's book. This alternate history of the Civil War is written with the painstaking historical authenticity and attention to detail that Andrew Heller's fans have come to expect from him. The characters in the book-within-a-book are all taken from history, and the military tactics and strategies are based on those of the actual war. The novel is followed by an lively and informative factual essay of the Civil War.

Illustrated throughout with Civil War pictures.