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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18 Penny Goose
An I Can Read Book Level 3
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Adam of the Road
Puffin Modern Classics
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Historical Fiction for 3rd-8th grade
1943 Newbery Medal winner
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Aesop's Fables
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Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Kindergarten-4th grade
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All-of-a-Kind Family
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Amelia Earhart: Young Aviator
Childhood of Famous Americans
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And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?
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Arrow Over the Door
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Childhood of Famous Americans
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1955 Newbery Honor Book
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Childhood of Famous Americans
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Childhood of Famous Americans
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George Washington's Breakfast
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George Washington: Our First Leader
Childhood of Famous Americans
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Going West
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Justin Morgan Had a Horse
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King Tut - Coloring Book
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Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt
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Lion to Guard Us
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Little House - Softcover Boxed Set
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Long Way to a New Land
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Long Way Westward
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Mark Twain: Young Writer
Childhood of Famous Americans
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Martin Luther King, Jr.: Young Man with a Dream
Childhood of Famous Americans
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Matchlock Gun
by Walter Edmonds
from PaperStar Books
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
1942 Newbery Medal winner
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Meet Abraham Lincoln
Second Series Landmark / Step Up reprints
by Barbara Cary
from Random House
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Meet Christopher Columbus
Second Series Landmark / Step Up reprints
by James de Kay
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Meet George Washington
Second Series Landmark / Step Up reprints
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Minstrel in the Tower
by Gloria Skurzynski
from Random House
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Molly Pitcher: Young Patriot
Childhood of Famous Americans
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Mr. Popper's Penguins
by Richard & Florence Atwater, illustrated by Jim Madsen
from Little, Brown & Company
Humorous Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
1939 Newbery Honor Book
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$8.99
Mr. Revere and I
by Robert Lawson
from Little, Brown & Company
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in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
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Neil Armstrong: Young Flyer
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Montrew Dunham
from Aladdin Paperbacks
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On the Banks of Plum Creek
Little House Series #4
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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1938 Newbery Honor Book
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$9.99
Paul Revere's Ride
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, illustrated by Ted Rand
from Puffin Books
American Poetry for 2nd-6th grade
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Paul Revere: Boston Patriot
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Augusta Stevenson
from Aladdin Paperbacks
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Pompeii
Step Into Reading Level 4
by Edith Kunhardt & Michael Eagle
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by Avi
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Robert E. Lee: Young Confederate
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Helen Albee Monsell
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
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$7.99
Sarah Morton's Day
by Kate Waters
from Scholastic Inc.
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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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Shh! We're Writing the Constitution!
by Jean Fritz
from PaperStar Books
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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$8.99
Sign of the Beaver
by Elizabeth George Speare
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
1984 Newbery Honor Book
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$9.99
Sky at Our Feet
by Nadia Hashimi
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-6th grade
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$6.99
Skylark
by Patricia MacLachlan
from HarperCollins
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.99
Snowshoe Thompson
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Nancy Smiler Levinson & Joan Sandin
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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$4.99
Soft Rain
by Cornelia Cornelissen
from Yearling
Historical fiction for 3rd-5th grade
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Story of Harriet Tubman
Dell Yearling Biography
by Kate McMullan
from Yearling
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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Story of the Underground Railroad - Coloring Book
by Peter F. Copeland
from Dover Publications
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in History of America Coloring Books (Location: COL-HISA)
$4.99
Sword in the Tree
by Clyde Robert Bulla
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$5.99
Tales from Shakespeare
Puffin Classics
by Charles & Mary Lamb
from Puffin Books
Shakespeare Stories for 3rd-8th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$8.99
Tales of Uncle Remus
Puffin Modern Classics
by Julius Lester
Reissue from Puffin Books
for 3rd-7th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$7.99
Teddy Roosevelt: Young Rough Rider
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Edd Winfield Parks
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
$7.99
Thomas Jefferson: Third President of the United States
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Helen Albee Monsell
1989 Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
$7.99
Toliver's Secret
by Esther Brady
from Yearling
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
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Trail of Tears
Step into Reading Level 5
by Joseph Bruchac
from Random House
Historical Non-fiction for 2nd-4th grade
in Step into Reading (Location: EAR-STEP)
$4.99
Trojan Horse
Step Into Reading Level 5
by Emily Little
from Random House
Greek Mythology for 2nd-4th grade
in Step into Reading (Location: EAR-STEP)
$4.99
Turn Homeward, Hannalee
by Patricia Beatty
from Beech Tree Books
for 3rd-6th grade
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Tut's Mummy
Step Into Reading Level 4
by Judy Donnelly & James Watling
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Wagon Wheels
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Barbara Brenner
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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Where Was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May?
by Jean Fritz & Margot Tomes
from PaperStar Books
Biography for 2nd-4th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$7.99
Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams?
by Jean Fritz
from PaperStar Books
Biography for 2nd-4th grade
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$6.99
Wilbur and Orville Wright: Young Fliers
by Augusta Stevenson
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
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Will You Sign Here, John Hancock?
by Jean Fritz
from PaperStar Books
Biography for 2nd-4th grade
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$6.99
Year of Impossible Goodbyes
by Sook Nyul Choi
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$7.99