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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Across Five Aprils
by Irene Hunt
from Berkley Books
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
1965 Newbery Honor Book
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Adventures of Ulysses
by Bernard Evslin
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After the War
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Angel on the Square
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Art of Keeping Cool
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Ballad of Lucy Whipple
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Ben and Me
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Bonanza Girl
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Step Into Reading Level 3
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Bud, Not Buddy
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Courage of Sarah Noble
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1955 Newbery Honor Book
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Golden Mountain Chronicles: 1903
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1976 Newbery Honor Book
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Golden Mountain Chronicles: 1903
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1976 Newbery Honor Book
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Earthquake at Dawn
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Escape From Warsaw
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Eyes of the Emperor
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Farewell to Manzanar
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For Freedom
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Gods and Generals
by Jeff Shaara
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Golden Age
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Good Master
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House of Dies Drear
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I Survived the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941
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Ivan and the Informer
by Myrna Grant
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Ivan and the Secret in the Suitcase
by Myrna Grant
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Jimmy Spoon and the Pony Express
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Journey to America
Journey to America Saga #1
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Kidnapped Prince
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Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
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King's Fifth
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Letters from Rifka
by Karen Hesse
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Little Farm in the Ozarks
Rocky Ridge Years Book 2
by Roger Lea MacBride
from HarperCollins
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Long Way to a New Land
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Joan Sandin
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Long Way Westward
An I Can Read Book Level 3
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Mary, Bloody Mary
A Young Royals Book
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Matchlock Gun
by Walter Edmonds
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1942 Newbery Medal winner
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Molly's Pilgrim
A Bantam First Skylark
by Barbara Cohen, illustrated by Daniel Mark Duffy
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My Brother Sam Is Dead
by James & Christopher Collier
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1975 Newbery Honor Book
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No Promises in the Wind
by Irene Hunt
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Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry
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1990 Newbery Medal winner
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Odyssey (retold)
Puffin Classics
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Old Yeller
by Fred Gipson
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1957 Newbery Honor Book
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On the Way Home
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Out of the Dust
by Karen Hesse
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Realistic Fiction for 6th-8th grade
1998 Newbery Medal winner
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Parallel Journeys
by Eleanor Ayers, Helen Waterford, & Alfons Heck
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Pedro's Journal
by Pam Conrad
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Perilous Road
by William O. Steele
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Pocahontas and the Strangers
by Clyde Robert Bulla
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Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
by E. L. Konigsburg
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Red Badge of Courage
Puffin Classics
by Stephen Crane
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Road to Agra
by Aimee Sommerfelt, illustrated by Ulf Aas
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
by Mildred Taylor
from Puffin Books
Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1977 Newbery Medal winner
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Sam the Minuteman
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Nathaniel Benchley & Arnold Lobel
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Samuel's Choice
by Richard Berleth
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Sarah Bishop
by Scott O'Dell
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Fiction for 6th-8th grade
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Sarah, Plain and Tall
by Patricia MacLachlan
30th Anniversary from HarperCollins
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
1986 Newbery Medal winner
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Second Mrs. Giaconda
by E. L. Konigsburg
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Realistic Fiction for 4th-7th grade
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Serpent Never Sleeps
by Scott O'Dell
from Fawcett Books
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Shades of Gray
by Carolyn Reeder
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
Scott O'Dell Award
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Shades of Gray
by Carolyn Reeder
from Avon Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
Scott O'Dell Award
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Shakespeare's Spy
Shakespeare Stealer #3
by Gary Blackwood
from Puffin Books
for 4th-8th grade
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Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea
by Gary Kinder
from Vintage Classics
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Sink or Swim
by Steve Watkins
from Scholastic Inc.
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox
from Laurel-Leaf Books
Historical Fiction for 6th-8th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
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So Far From the Bamboo Grove
by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
from Beech Tree Books
Historical fiction for 4th-8th grade
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Star Fisher
by Laurence Yep
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Story of King Arthur
by Children's Dover Thrift, Tom Crawford
from Dover Publications
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in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$1.50 (3 in stock)
Tale of Troy
Puffin Classics
by Roger Green
from Puffin Books
Greek Mythology for 6th-9th grade
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Tale of Two Cities (abridged)
Puffin Classics
by Charles Dickens
from Puffin Books
Historical Fiction for 8th-10th grade
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Thimble Summer
by Elizabeth Enright
from Square Fish Publishing
Realistic Fiction for 4th-6th grade
1939 Newbery Medal winner
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Thimble Summer
by Elizabeth Enright
from Yearling
Realistic Fiction for 4th-6th grade
1939 Newbery Medal winner
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$4.50 (2 in stock)
To Be a Slave
Puffin Modern Classics
by Julius Lester, illustrated by Tom Feelings
from Puffin Books
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-10th grade
1969 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
from Warner Books
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Toliver's Secret
by Esther Brady
from Yearling
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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Turn Homeward, Hannalee
by Patricia Beatty
from Beech Tree Books
for 3rd-6th grade
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$9.99 $3.50 (2 in stock)
Twenty and Ten
by Claire Huchet Bishop
from Puffin Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.99 $3.50 (1 in stock)
Wagon Wheels
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Barbara Brenner
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$4.99 $2.50 (2 in stock)
Whipping Boy
by Sid Fleischman
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
1987 Newbery Medal winner
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$6.99 $3.00 (3 in stock)
White Stag
Puffin Newbery Library
by Kate Seredy
from Puffin Books
Heroic Legend for 4th-6th grade
1938 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.99 $3.00 (1 in stock)