20th Century America

The 20th was America's century. The United States in particular was able to play the role of industrial leader, international hero, aloof arbiter, Good Samaritan, and cultural giant. Of course, there were plenty of detractors, and snobs who didn't like the thought of an upstart nation of plebs gaining so much influence and power so quickly, but for the most part America and Americans were heralded as everyone's friend.

It was also the century of postmodernism, Darwinian indoctrination, modern "art", legalized abortion, rampant sexual license, etc., most of these finding their origin or substantial support in the U.S.A. American troops may have stopped the spread of Communism in South Korea and taken out the Third Reich, but they weren't able to stop the spread of anti-Christian sentiment or the deaths of more Christian martyrs than in all the previous centuries combined.

The British historian Paul Johnson says the Modern Era was born on March 29, 1919, when photographs of a solar eclipse proved Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. It's always a dangerous business inaugurating or ending historical periods with specific dates, but this much is clear—with the universal acceptance of Einstein's theory which followed, the moral and philosophical relativism with which the West had been experimenting for 300 years or so was finally codified as the standard approach to life, the universe and everything.

Einstein first published his theory in 1905. Shortly thereafter, the world began to fall apart. World War I was more than just a war—it was the conflict of outmoded nationalistic ideals with the new super-efficient war machines produced by the Industrial Revolution and technological progress. The Great Depression affected nations all over the world, the Lost Generation abandoned morality and surrendered to existential angst, and World War II stripped away the last illusions of innocence.

After that, there was no going back. Everything was questioned, everything was assumed to be in flux, there were no absolutes, no stationary standards, just the present and confusion and ambiguity. Existentialism told people to create their own meaning through self-actualization; postmodernism said there was no meaning, or that all meaning was relative and ultimately meaningless, merely a social construct designed to control people.

This is where human-centered thinking will ultimately get you, of course.When God is dismissed, hope is impossible, and the only response is either complete despair (existentialism) or complete nonsense (postmodernism). Add in the godless sexual preoccupations of Freudian theory, the culmination of Darwinian evolutionary naturalism, and the Enlightenment-inspired trust in human goodness and progress, and you've got a chaotic world.

Which is what we have now. After the Sexual Revolution, the secularization of public dialogue, and the watering-down of the Christian Gospel in so many churches, we're left with moral, religious and philosophical wreckage of the worst kind. Fortunately, we also have the true Gospel, which tells us that Christ has always and will always be the answer to evil and the only path to Truth and Salvation.

Despite the high death toll among Christians in the 20th century, the last 100 years also saw the most concerted missionary efforts yet undertaken, spanning every continent and nearly every people group. The Bible was translated into hundreds of languages (there are still thousands to go), the poor were cared for, and the Good News of the resurrected Lord was taken everywhere men and women could go.

Even the darkest centuries (and the 20th was certainly among them) aren't sufficient to overcome the work of Yahweh Almighty among His people and in the created world. Man has always rebelled; he will continue to do so. But God's faithful children will continue to spread His message and love and witness through the power of the Holy Spirit until Christ comes again and history is fulfilled in all the glory and majesty of the triumphant Godhead.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur.Read more of his reviews here.

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Adèle & Simon in America
by Barbara McClintock
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Amelia Earhart - Coloring Book
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Angel Child, Dragon Child
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Baseball Saved Us
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Boxes for Katje
by Candace Fleming
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Bracelet, The
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Brave Harriet
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Brothers at Bat
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Cats in Krasinski Square
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Choosing Brave
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Coming on Home Soon
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Flight
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Girl From the Tar Paper School
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Grand Mosque of Paris
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Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King
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Hot Air
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How I Learned Geography
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How People Learned to Fly
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I Am Rosa Parks
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I Will Come Back for You
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If You Lived At The Time Of The Great San Francisco Earthquake
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If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island
If You Were There
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Cornerstones of Freedom series
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Classic Starts
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Martin Luther King, Jr
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Memory Coat
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Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot
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My Brothers' Flying Machine
by Jane Yolen
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My Secret Camera
by Mendel Grossman
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Mysterious Journey
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Nobody Gonna Turn Me 'Round
by Doreen Rappaport
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One Thousand Tracings
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Out of the Dust
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1998 Newbery Medal winner
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Out of the Dust
by Karen Hesse
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1998 Newbery Medal winner
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Patrol
by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Ann Grifalconi
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Penny for a Hundred
by Ethel Pochocki
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Picture Book of Rosa Parks
by David A. Adler
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Picture Book of Rosa Parks
by David A. Adler; illustrated by Robert Casilla
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Rosa
by Nikki Giovanni, illustrated by Bryan Collier
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Secret Seder
by Doreen Rappaport
1st edition from Hyperion Press
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by Deborah Hopkinson
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An I Can Read Book Level 3
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So Far from the Sea
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Songs of My People
by Dudley M. Brooks & Eric Easter
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Story of Child Labor Laws
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of D-Day
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Story of D-Day
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of D-Day
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Story of Ellis Island
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of Ellis Island
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of Flight
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Story of Henry Ford & the Automobile
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Zachary Kent
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Story of Ruby Bridges
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Story of Ruby Bridges
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Story of the Battle for Iwo Jima
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of the Battle of Midway
Cornerstones of Freedom series
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Story of the Battle of the Bulge
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of the Battle of the Bulge
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of the Flight at Kitty Hawk
by Len W. Meents, R. Conrad Stein
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Story of the Freedom Riders
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of the Great Depression
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of the Great Society
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of The Lafayette Escadrille
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of the Nineteenth Amendment
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of the Panama Canal
Cornerstones of Freedom series
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Story of the Peace Corps
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of the Pullman Strike
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of the Roaring Twenties
Cornerstones of Freedom series
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Story of the Saigon Airlift
from Children's Press
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Story of the Saigon Airlift
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of the San Francisco Earthquake
Cornerstones of Freedom
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Story of the Spirit of St. Louis
Cornerstones of Freedom
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