Chronological History

Sometimes we speak of world history as though it belongs to people. It doesn't—it belongs to God, and though people play prominently within the historical narrative, it always remains under God's auspices and control. The problem with losing the right perspective isn't that we'll get the facts wrong, it's that we'll fail to understand what they mean, what the purpose of past events is, and what we can look forward to.

Human history began all at once in the same place: the Garden of Eden, where God made Adam and Eve as the crown of all Creation. He told them to fill the earth and take dominion of it, and He also told them not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. They ate the fruit anyway, and mankind was removed from paradise and introduced to tension, pain, and resistance.

The story of the world is in many ways simply the story of adversity. For the enemies of God, it's adversity in the form of the failure and futility of purely human endeavor; for God's people, it's the story of fighting for the truth against secular philosophies, fighting for holiness despite the pervasiveness of sin, and fighting for the Gospel in the face of persecution and death.

Jesus Christ is our only hope. He is the Prince of Peace, the defeater of Death, and the King of the Universe, the saver of souls and the punisher of wickedness. His kingdom is the restoration and glorious fulfillment of the paradise from which Adam and Eve were removed, and we work, wait, hope and pray for the quick fulfillment of His will in all things.

This is our framework for history. While it's important to study things like the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and the ancient Near East, it's only important when investigated through the lens of God's ultimate sovereignty and plan. The story of mankind is the story of redemption, and only when we analyze battles, kings, treaties, and catastrophes from God's perspective can we truly make sense of them.

Otherwise, it's all fairly irrelevant and useless. Sure, there's Napoleon's dictum that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it, but a quick survey of the past will show that each successive generation does repeat the sins of their fathers, and that without Christ's real physical life on Earth as a centering point, there's no real cause for optimism or hope of any kind.

Christ's love not only makes the trajectory of history cause for hope; it reveals the truly great moments of the past, events that to the secular eye seem insignificant or even pernicious. We're speaking of the progress of the true Church, of course, and of each soul that God calls and makes His own through the agency of His Holy Spirit. These are the milestones we look for and celebrate.

We carry a lot of world history products. Because it's the story of God's work in the world and our human responses, we believe it's important to know and understand. Not everything we carry is Christian; there are plenty of secular resources here. We encourage you to use whichever ones work best for your situation, but that you do so with a view to understanding the will and work of the One who made history in the first place.

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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106 Items found Print
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Sterling Classics
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$14.95
Adventures of Perrine
Windermere Readers #10
by Hector Malot, translated by Gil Meynier, adapted by Edith Heal
1954 edition from Rand McNally
for 3rd-8th grade
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Alamo All Stars
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #6
by Nathan Hale
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All Aboard for Freedom
by Marie McSwigan, illustrated by E. Harper Johnson, with an introduction by Jan Papanek
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
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Amos Fortune, Free Man
by Elizabeth Yates, illustrated by Nora S. Unwin
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
1951 Newbery Medal winner
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Anna of Byzantium
by Tracy Barrett
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Annotated Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, edited by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
Annotated from W. W. Norton and Co.
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Ark, The
by Margot Benary-Isbert
2021 Revision from Purple House Press
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Black Falcon
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Black Rose
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Blades of Freedom
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Book of Marvels: Marvels of the Occident
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Book of Marvels: Marvels of the Orient
by Richard Halliburton
from Living Book Press
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Boys in the Boat adapted for Young Readers
by Daniel James Brown, adapted by Gregory Mone
from Penguin Putnam
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By England's Aid
by G. A. Henty
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Captive
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Chariot in the Sky
Land of the Free Series
by Arna Bontemps, illustrated by Cyrus Le Roy Baldridge
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Children of Odin
by Padraic Colum, illustrated by Willy Pogany
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Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$40.00 (1 in stock)
Classic Adventures
by Sir H. Rider Haggard
from New Orchard Editions
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Codfish Musket
by Agnes Hewes, illustrated by Armstrong Sperry
from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
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1937 Newbery Honor Book
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Countdown
by Deborah Wiles
1st edition from Scholastic Press
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from New York Review of Books
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
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$29.95
Dark Frigate
by Charles Boardman Hawes, illustrated by Warrenn Chappell
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Darkness and the Dawn
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Dragonfly Eyes
by Cao Wenxuan, translated from the Chinese by Helen Wang
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$19.99
Eagle of the Ninth
by Rosemary Sutcliff, illustrated by C. Walter Hodges
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
$20.00
Far Frontier
by William O. Steele; illustrated by Paul Galdone
from Harcourt
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First Four Years
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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First Four Years (Pictorial Cover)
by Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams
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Freewater
by Amina Luqman Dawson
from Little, Brown & Company
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2023 Newbery Medal Winner
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$16.99
Golden Age
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Maxfield Parrish
from Ten Speed Press
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Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
by Laura Amy Schlitz
from Candlewick Press
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Gudrid's Saga
by Constance Irwin
from St. Martin's Press
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in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
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Helmet of Navarre
by Burke Wilkinson, illustrated by James W. Williamson
Second Printing from Macmillan
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Hitty: Her First Hundred Years
by Rachel Field, illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop
1969 printing from Macmillan
for 5th-9th grade
1930 Newbery Medal Winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Horses of Anger
by James Forman
2nd Printing from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Jack Wade, Fighter for Liberty
A Doubleday Signal Book
by Irving Werstein, illustrated by Albert Orbaan
from Doubleday & Company
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January's Sparrow
by Patricia Polacco
from Philomel Books
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$16.00 (1 in stock)
Kathleen: A Yankee Girl at Gettysburg
by Alice Turner Curtis
from Gramercy Books
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$5.50 (2 in stock)
King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Sir Thomas Malory, edited by Sidney Lanier and illustrated by Florian
from Grosset & Dunlap
British Fairy Tales/Prose Epic for 4th-8th grade
$12.50 (1 in stock)
Lady of Arlington
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
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Lafayette!
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #8
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
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$14.99
Legends of the Wild West
by James A. Crutchfield, Bill O'Neal, Dale L. Walker
from Publications International
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Little House - Hardcover Set
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$139.11
Little Town on the Prairie
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1942 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.99
Little Women
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Louis Jambor
from Grosset & Dunlap
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 4th-9th grade
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Dinah Dryhurst
Reprint from Breslich & Foss
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by M.E. Gray
Unabridged from Everyman's Library
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
$16.95
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
by Gary D. Schmidt
from Scholastic Inc.
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2005 Newbery Honor Book
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Lord Hornblower
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
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Lost Queen of Egypt
by Lucile Morrison, illustrated by Franz Geritz
from Purple House Press
Historical Fiction for 3rd-10th grade
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$28.00
Major Impossible
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #9
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
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$14.99
Merlin's Mistake
by Robert Newman, illustrated by Richard Lebenson
First Edition from Atheneum
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My Brother Sam Is Dead
by James & Christopher Collier
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1975 Newbery Honor Book
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Never Dies the Dream
by Margaret Landon
from Doubleday & Company
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One Dead Spy
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #1
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 3rd-8th grade
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$15.99
Orphan for Nebraska
A Guild Book
by Charlene Joy Talbot
from Atheneum
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
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Out of the Dust
by Karen Hesse
from Scholastic Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 6th-8th grade
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Out of the Dust
by Karen Hesse
1st edition from Scholastic Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 6th-8th grade
1998 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Percy Jackson's Greek Gods
by Rick Riordan
from Disney-Hyperion
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$12.99
Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes
by Rick Riordan
from Disney-Hyperion
for 4th-8th grade
$12.99
Pran of Albania
by Elizabeth Miller, illustrated by Maud & Miska Petersham
1930s printing from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
for 6th-10th grade
1930 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$115.00 (1 in stock)
Prince and the Pauper
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Frank Merrill
from Reader's Digest
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Raid of No Return
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #7
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 4th-8th grade
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$14.99
Ranch under the Rimrock
by Dorothy Lawson McCall
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 8th-Adult
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Redskin and Cowboy
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
$20.00
Ride With Me
by Thomas B. Costain
1944 Edition from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Robin Hood
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by Paul Creswick, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
Reissue from Atheneum
for 6th-10th grade
in Scribner Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SCRIB)
$24.99
Robin Hood
by Henry Gilbert, illustrated by Frances Brundage
from Saalfield Publishing Co.
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Rowan Farm
by Margot Benary-Isbert
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$23.00
Rush Revere and the American Revolution
by Rush Limbaugh with Kathryn Adams Limbaugh
from Threshold Editions
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims
by Rush Limbaugh
from Threshold Editions
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Rush Revere and the First Patriots
by Rush Limbaugh
1St Edition from Threshold Editions
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Scottish Chiefs
by Jane Porter, edited by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 8th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Seaman's Journal
by Gail Karwoski & James Watling
1st edition from Ideals Children's Books
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Lewis & Clark Expedition (1801-1803) (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Silver Sword
by Ian Serraillier, illustrated by C. Walter Hodges
from Criterion Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (3 in stock)
Sir Charlie
by Paul Fleishman
from Greenwillow Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox, illustrated by Eros Keith
from Bradbury Press
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Snow Goose
by Paul Gallico
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.95 $14.00 (2 in stock)
Snowbound
by David Lavender
from Holiday House
for 4th-8th grade
in Titanic & 20th Century Disasters (Location: HISW-20DIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Stories of Robin Hood & His Merry Men
"In Days of Old" series
by Henry Gilbert, illustrated by Walter Crane
from T.C. & E.C. Jack
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Stories of the Old Dominion
by John Esten Cooke
from American Foundation Publications
for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Story of King Arthur and His Knights & The Story of the Champions of the Round Table
by Howard Pyle
3rd Print from Fall River Press
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 7th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Streams to the River, River to the Sea
by Scott O'Dell
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 7th-9th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Swallows' Flight
by Hilary McKay
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$17.99
Sword of Clontarf
by Charles A. Brady
from Doubleday & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Tales from Shakespeare
Manhattan Young People's Library
by Charles & Mary Lamb, illustrated by Louis Rhead
from Gilbert H. McKibben
Shakespeare Stories for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
These Happy Golden Years
Little House Series #8
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1944 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.99
This Dear-Bought Land
by Jean Lee Latham
from Harper & Row
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$56.00 (1 in stock)
This Promise of Change
by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy
from Bloomsbury Publishing
for 6th-12th grade
2020 Robert F. Siebert Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99
Tom Brown's School Days
by Thomas Hughes
from New York Publishing Company
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Trails Plowed Under
by Charles M. Russell
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #4
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 3rd-8th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$14.99
Trumpeter of Krakow
by Eric P. Kelly, illustrated by Angela Pruszynska
from Macmillan
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
1929 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Underground Abductor
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #5
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 3rd-8th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$14.99
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