20th Century

It has been said the 20th century was like no other. Certainly, it can appear that way—war was more prevalent and far more destructive, technological advances were breathtaking and rapid, the general standard of living increased many times over in the developed world, and postmodernism rose to prominence in the wake of a shattered Modernist dream of progressive enlightenment and human actualization.

On closer inspection, however, these are pretty superficial changes. War only seemed more prevalent and destructive because the earth's population was exponentially larger; technological advances didn't develop overnight, and many of them were simply improvements on old ideas; the standard of living increased, but not for everyone and usually at a high cost; postmodernism was simply a new incarnation of anti-Christian philosophy.

There really is nothing new under the sun, and that is perhaps the most important lesson of the century that included everything from the War to End All Wars, to the New Deal, the New Society,and the SexualRevolution.Humans will always be devoted to selfishness, pride, and havoc; the 20th century seemed to have more than its fair share of those things simply because there were so many more people than at any time previous.

Everything seemed to take on a more global scale in the last century. The First World War (1914-1918) was primarily a European affair (Japan and the U.S. were the only non-European combatant nations), but its effects were felt on every continent. This was even more true during World War II (1939-1945), when fighting actually took place on every continent (it was limited in North America and Australia, but it happened) and the war claimed 57 million lives worldwide,including both soldiers and civilians.

In between the wars came the Great Depression, an economic upheaval originating in the United States but affecting the whole world. This came on the heels of the Roaring Twenties, a morally chaotic period that gave birth to jazz, made marijuana popular,and laid the foundations of the so-called Sexual Revolution of the 1960s.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented a series of government-subsidized programs to revitalize the economy collectively known as the New Deal, which many blame for introducing socialist doctrine into the U.S.A. Socialism was a great fear as Communism (seen as socialism's necessary next step) was not-too-slowly taking over Eastern Europe and moving into Asia.

It wasn't the New Deal that ended the economic crisis, though. World War II was the catalyst that upped production, necessitated a more muscular economy, and led the Western world out of its stupor and into technological advancement and monetary affluence. Incidentally, this very fact led to an intense debate between free market economists like F.A. Hayek (whose libertarian ideas are enjoying a resurgence currently) and the interventionist ideals of John Maynard Keynes and his ilk.

After the Second World War, everything seemed slightly off-kilter. Whole armies of civilian soldiers were released back to their countries of origin, and after the carnage they'd seen it was hardly surprising they spent the next decade forgetting about it, and amassing as much material wealth and comfort as was humanly possible.

Those areas most affected by the war had longer memories, of course. The work of rebuilding took a long time, and the scars of Nazi Holocaust and Japanese scorched-earth were visible for too long (some of them are still there). In response, people embraced a raw form of humanism, a hedonistic humanism built around postmodern ambiguity nevertheless shadowed by constant threat of nuclear war and annihilation.

Postmodernism is essentially the denial of modernist trust in human reason, and the assumption that nothing can be actually known coupled with a disbelief in absolutes of any kind. Technically, the term originally referred to art and architecture, but quickly spread to literature, then philosophy, and finally to the broader society. It's the attitude that motivated the '60s hippie movement, the deconstruction of morality, and the emphasis on pluralism as a positive force.

It's in this confusing atmosphere that we find ourselves now. Modernism had proclaimed the gospel of human progress: that, given enough education and liberty, mankind would eventually reach a highly evolved state of near- or total-perfection. The violence of the 20th century, including both World Wars, the Vietnam War, and countless genocides (Russia, China, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, etc.) largely put an end to such a vision.

Christians understand that God controls all things, but without such an orienting assumption it's easy to see how unbelievers would latch onto something like postmodernism, that essentially denies individual culpability and blames social constructs for the world's problems instead. Our job is to counter this essential despair and capitulation with the Good News of Christ's redemption, no matter how out of control and terrifying the world is or seems.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
Did you find this review helpful?
146 Items found Print
Active Filters: 3rd grade (Ages 8-9), Hardcover
Adèle & Simon in America
by Barbara McClintock
1st edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
African Traveler
by Ronald Syme, illustrated by Jacqueline Tomes
from William Morrow & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
All About Aviation
All About Books #51
by Robert D. Loomis
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About Rockets and Jets
All About Books #13
by Fletcher Pratt
2nd edition from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About the Arctic and Antarctic
All About Books #20
by Armstrong Sperry
from Random House
for 3rd-8th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About Undersea Exploration
All About Books #35
by Ruth Brindze, illustrated with more than 60 photographs
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All-of-a-Kind Family
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #1
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Helen John
from Follett
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #4
by Sydney Taylor; illustrated by Mary Stevens
from Follett Publishing Co.
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$34.00 (1 in stock)
Always Remember Me
by Marisabina Russo
from Atheneum
for 2nd-6th grade
in Holocaust (Location: HISW-20WW2H)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Amelia Earhart: Kansas Girl
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Jane Moore Howe
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Amy Carmichael: Rescuing the Children
Heroes for Young Readers
by Renee Taft Meloche
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 2nd-4th grade
in Heroes for Young Readers (Location: BIO-HERO)
Animals Robert Scott Saw
by Sandra Markle
from Chronicle Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Ann And Liv Cross Antarctica
by Ann Bancroft, Liv Arnesen
from Da Capo Press
for 3rd-5th grade
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
Ark, The
by Margot Benary-Isbert
2021 Revision from Purple House Press
for 3rd-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$23.00
Armstrong
by Torben Kuhlmann, Translated by David Henry Wilson
from NorthSouth
for 2nd-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$21.95
Battle of the Bulge
by Stephen W. Sears
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 3rd-8th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Behave Yourself, Bethany Brant
by Patricia Beatty
from William Morrow & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Marvels: Marvels of the Occident
from Living Book Press
for 3rd-Adult
in International Landmarks & Symbols (Location: HISV-LANINT)
$27.99
Book of Marvels: Marvels of the Orient
by Richard Halliburton
from Living Book Press
for 3rd-12th grade
in International Landmarks & Symbols (Location: HISV-LANINT)
$27.99
Boxes for Katje
by Candace Fleming
1st edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$19.99
Brothers at Bat
by Audrey Vernick
from Clarion Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Great Depression (1929-1939) (Location: HISA-20GD)
Brothers in Hope
by Mary Williams, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
from Lee & Low Books
for 1st-4th grade
2006 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award
in Africa (Location: HISMC-AFR)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Carl Sandburg: Young Singing Poet
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Grace Hathaway Melin
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Carrie's War
by Nina Bawden
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Cats in Krasinski Square
by Karen Hesse
1st edition from Scholastic Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Choosing Brave
by Angela Joy, illustrated by Janelle Washington
from Roaring Brook Press
for 1st-4th grade
2023 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$19.99
Coal Miner's Bride
Dear America
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
from Scholastic Inc.
Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th grade
in Dear America Books (Location: SER-DEAR)
Cold War Correspondent
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$14.99
Coming on Home Soon
by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E. B. Lewis
1st edition from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
2005 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Coming to America
by Betsy Maestro
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Immigration & Emigration (Location: HISA-20IM)
Corrie Ten Boom: Shining in the Darkness
Heroes for Young Readers
by Renee Meloche
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 2nd-4th grade
in Heroes for Young Readers (Location: BIO-HERO)
D-Day
by Michael Noble, illustrated by Alexander Mostov
from Wide Eyed Editions
for 3rd-7th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$17.99
D-Day: A Day That Changed America
by Shelley Tanaka, illustrated by David Craig
from Hyperion Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in WWII: European Theater (Location: HISA-20WW2E)
Down Cut Shin Creek
by Kathi Appelt & Jeanne Cannella Schmitzer
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-8th grade
in Great Depression (1929-1939) (Location: HISA-20GD)
$19.95
Dragon Tales
by Celia R. Brines
3rd edition from Pacific Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Duke Ellington
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
1st edition from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 3rd-6th grade
1999 Caldecott Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Early Sunday Morning
Dear America
by Barry Denenberg
from Scholastic Inc.
Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th grade
in Dear America Books (Location: SER-DEAR)
Enchanted Schoolhouse
by Ruth Sawyer, illustrated by Hugh Troy
from Viking Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Epic Expeditions
by Bear Grylls
from Kane Miller
for 3rd-6th grade
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
First Book of the Antarctic
by J.B. Icenhower
from Franklin Watts
for 1st-4th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
First World War
Usborne Young Reading: Series Three
by Conrad Mason
from Usborne
for 3rd-6th grade
in World War I (1914-1919) (Location: HISA-20WW1)
Flight
by Robert Burleigh; illustrated by Mike Wimmer
from Philomel Books
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
1992 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Forging Freedom
by Hudson Talbott
from Putnam Juvenile
for 3rd-6th grade
in Holocaust (Location: HISW-20WW2H)
George Washington Carver: America's Scientist
Heroes of History for Young Readers
by Renee Taft Meloche
from Emerald Books
for 1st-4th grade
in Heroes for Young Readers (Location: BIO-HERO)
Girl From the Tar Paper School
by Teri Kanefield
from Abrams Books for Young Readers
for 1st-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Golden Book History of the United States Volume 10
by Earl Schenck Miers
from Golden Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Golden Book of Space Exploration
by Dinah L. Moche
from Golden Books
for Preschool-3rd Grade
in Space Race & Exploration (Location: HISA-20SPR)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Hear My Sorrow
by Deborah Hopkinson
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Dear America Books (Location: SER-DEAR)
Hiding Place - A Graphic Novel
by Corrie Ten Boom, adapted by Mario DeMatteo, illustrated by Ismael Castro
from Chosen Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$23.99
Holocaust
History of the World
by Charles George
from KidHaven Press
in Holocaust (Location: HISW-20WW2H)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Hot Air
by Marjorie Priceman
from Atheneum
for Preschool-3rd grade
2006 Caldecott Honor Book
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
How and Why Wonder Book of World War II
by Felix Sutton, illustrated by Darrell Sweet
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in How and Why Wonder Books (Location: VIN-H&W)
How I Became an American
by Karin Gundisch
from Cricket Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
How I Learned Geography
by Uri Shulevitz
1st edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 2nd-5th grade
Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$21.99
How They Built the Statue of Liberty
by Mary J. Shapiro
from Random House
for 1st-4th grade
in Immigration & Emigration (Location: HISA-20IM)
I, Matthew Henson
by Carole Boston Weatherford
1st edition from Walker Books
for 3rd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Immigrants to America
History of America
by Linda Thompson
from Rourke Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Immigration & Emigration (Location: HISA-20IM)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Jane Addams
A Discovery Book
by Helen Stone Peterson
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Journey to the New World
Dear America
by Kathryn, Lasky
from Scholastic Inc.
Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th Grade
in Dear America Books (Location: SER-DEAR)
Kate Douglas Wiggin
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Dharathula H. Millender
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
Last Princess
by Fay Stanley; illustrated by Diane Stanley
from HarperCollins
Picture Book Biographies for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Lily's Victory Garden
by Helen L. Wilbur
1st edition from Sleeping Bear Press
for 2nd-4th grade
in World War II (1939-1945) (Location: HISA-20WW2)
Lindbergh
by Torben Kuhlmann, Translated by David Henry Wilson
from NorthSouth
for 2nd-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$19.95
Little Fishes
from Houghton Mifflin
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Little Ships
by Louise Borden, illustrated by Michael Foreman
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in WWII: European Theater (Location: HISA-20WW2E)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Long Ago in Oregon
by Claudia Lewis, illustrated by Joel Fontaine
from Harper & Row
for Kindergarten-5th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Lottie Moon
by Renee Meloche
from YWAM Publishing
for 2nd-4th grade
in Heroes for Young Readers (Location: BIO-HERO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Lotus Seed
by Sherry Garland
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Mansion, The
by Henry van Dyke, illustrated by Elizabeth Shippen Green
from Harper & Brothers
for 3rd-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Marie Curie's Search for Radium
by Beverley Birch, illustrated by Christian Birmingham
from Barron's
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Meet John F. Kennedy
by Nancy Bean White
from Random House
for 1st-4th grade
in Step Up Books (Location: VIN-STEP)
Memory Coat
by Elvira Woodruff, illustrated by Michael Dooling
from Scholastic Press
Realistic Fiction for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Mighty Jackie
by Marissa Moss
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
$11.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Molly Marches On
American Girls Short Stories
by Valerie Tripp
First Edition, First Printing from American Girl
for 2nd-5th grade
in American Girl (Location: SER-AMGIRL)
Molly Takes Flight
American Girls Short Stories
by Valerie Tripp
First Edition, First Printing from American Girl
for 2nd-5th grade
in American Girl (Location: SER-AMGIRL)
Moonshot
by Brian Floca
1st edition from Atheneum
for 1st-3rd grade
2010 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
Moonshot
by Brian Floca
Expanded Edition from Atheneum
for 1st-5th grade
2010 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$19.99
More All-of-a-Kind Family
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #3
by Sydney Taylor; illustrated by Mary Stevens
from Follett Publishing Co.
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$34.00 (1 in stock)
My Brothers' Flying Machine
by Jane Yolen
from Little, Brown & Company
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
$4.00 (1 in stock)
My Secret War
Dear America
by Mary Pope Osborne
First Edition from Scholastic Inc.
Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th grade
in Dear America Books (Location: SER-DEAR)
North of Danger
by Dale Fife, map and decorations by Haakon Saether
1st edition from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
October 45
by Jean-Louis Besson, translated by Carol Volk
from Harcourt Brace Jovanich
for 2nd-6th grade
in WWII: European Theater (Location: HISA-20WW2E)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
One Eye Laughing, the Other Weeping
Dear America
by Barry Denenberg
from Scholastic Inc.
Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th grade
in Dear America Books (Location: SER-DEAR)
One Thousand Tracings
by Lita Judge
from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-5th grade
in World War II (1939-1945) (Location: HISA-20WW2)
Ookpik
by Bruce Hiscock
First Edition from Boyds Mill Press
for 3rd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Our Century in Pictures for Young People
by Richard B. Stolley
1st edition from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in 20th Century (Location: HISW-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Overview of the Persian Gulf War, 1990
by Earle Rice Jr.
from Mitchell Lane Publishers
for 3rd-6th grade
in 20th Century: 1976-1999 (Location: HISW-20C4)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Papa Like Everyone Else
by Sydney Taylor
from Follett Publishing Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Past and Present Space Junk
Isaac Asimov's 21st Century Library of the Universe
by Isaac Asimov, revised and updated by Richard Hantula
from Gareth Stevens Publishing
for 2nd-4th grade
in Space Race & Exploration (Location: HISA-20SPR)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Patrol
by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Ann Grifalconi
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vietnam War (1957-1975) (Location: HISA-20VIE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Paul Gauguin
Art for Children
by Ernest Raboff
1st edition from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 1st-4th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Pearl Harbor is Burning!
by Kathleen V. Kudlinski, illustrated by Ronald Himler
from Viking Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Petros' War
by Alki Zei, translated by Edward Fenton
First Ediition from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Picture Book of Rosa Parks
by David A. Adler; illustrated by Robert Casilla
1st edition from Holiday House
Picture Book Biography for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Place to Hang the Moon
by Kate Albus
from Margaret Ferguson Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$17.99
Primrose Day
by Carolyn Haywood
from Harcourt
for 3rd-5th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Queen of the Falls
by Chris Van Allsburg
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Richard Byrd
by Guernsey Van Riper, Jr.
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Richard E. Byrd
A Discovery Book
by Adele deLeeuw, Illustrated by Al Fiorentino
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Ride the Crooked Wind
by Dale Fife, illustrated by Richard Cuffari
from Coward McCann
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
12