Can Paul Ryan be a unifying force to get things done as the new House Speaker?

Nope .... he is an establishment .... he will just blend over like the previous one ... (I am praying that I am wrong on this)

In the immediate future, like within the next few months, I think it may be a little better. I suspect he'll have a brief honeymoon period with the House Freedom Caucus, and that will give him room to maneuver on legislation. As long as he doesn't work too much with the Democrats, they won't revolt. In the long-run, meaning post-election, it will depend on who is the next President. If it's Hillary, I suspect it will return to the current status of Republican infighting. The House Freedom Caucus didn't agree to his demands to reshape how the Speaker is removed. Thus, they've decided to withhold their main tool for removing him if he ignores them as he tries to work with the new President. However, if it's a Republican President, I think he will work well with them, and Congress will become somewhat functional again. In that scenario, he can push more conservative legislation, which would appeal to the House Freedom Caucus, without having to count on Democratic votes. The interesting part will be how the pre-election period is managed.

The short answer? Nope.
There has been far too much divisiveness within the GOP for Ryan to overcome. He very well may have gotten the job under some...interesting circumstances but I feel that the same people that helped him get in will be the same ones helping him out of the door

Sadly, we now have Boehner-lite. Granted, Ryan is far more knowledgeable and personable than Boehner, but he represents the same GOP establishment. Look at his first act. He will support Boehner's budget deal with Obama because the GOP establishment is afraid of any accusation that they shut down government. Afraid. That's the operative word. There will be no real change until Democrats as well as Republicans turn away from their established party leaders and replace Congress, every seat of it. Sad but true, We the People are incapable of doing this on our own. We seem to think that 99% of the members of Congress are idiots. The 1% we support are our own as though it's "those other ones" who are causing all the problems. That's why we need term limits...

PO3 Steven Sherrill Very little will change.

I hope he can and I wish him the best on the job.