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Cultural History

You'll often hear proponents of whole-book education methods talk about the benefit of learning history through literature. They aren't talking about the kind of history you might learn in a textbook—for them, knowing the dates of the Thirty Years' War or the name of the first prime minister of Australia isn't that important. The kind of history you'll learn in novels and diaries and essays is cultural history.

How people live, what they learn in school, the weapons they use, their religion, how they perceive their role in the world: these are all elements of culture that fiction and private documents reveal much better and more thoroughly than books simply detailing facts. Source documents are the product as much of the culture in which they're written, after all, as they are the result of the authors' own invention.

Books simply about the customs and daily life of a people group do have their place, too. You might not have as intimate a portrait of Victorian England after reading What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew as you would after reading Great Expectations, but you'll learn plenty. Sometimes you just need the straightforward facts, and at times like those novels are not your friends.

The real question for many, however, isn't how do I learn about different cultures?, but WHY should I learn about different cultures? Well, there's no law saying you have to, but aside from the fun you can have doing so, learning about foreign or lost cultures is one way to better understand your own place in the grand scheme of things.

It's not that the Chinese New Year festival will shed any great light on your own situation, but the deeper you study the cultural contexts around the globe, the more you realize how similar people really are. Understanding connections is one of the great advantages of a well-rounded education; the connections between people a solid grounding in cultural history can offer are especially poignant.

Of course, reading about the origins of your own culture will help you understand why you do things the way you do, why you think the way you do, why the people around you are the way they are. As Christians, this knowledge can help us share the Gospel easier than if we knew nothing of the background of the people we try to reach, and that is the one reason for studying cultural history that trumps all the others.

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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193 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 3rd grade (Ages 8-9), Trade Paperback
3-D Engineering
from Nomad Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Architecture and Sculpture (Location: ELE-ARC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Robert Fulton
by Jamie Aramini
Fir from Geography Matters
for 2nd-4th grade
in Geography Matters products (Location: GEO-GEOM)
Adventures of Richard Wagner
by Opal Wheeler
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
Africa Is Not A Country
by Margy Burns Knight
unknown from Millbrook Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Africa (Location: HISMC-AFR)
AIO Imagination Station Book #21
by Marianne Hering
from Focus on the Family
for 1st-3rd grade
in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
Alexander Calder
by Mike Venezia
from Children's Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
Alexander Graham Bell
by Elizabeth MacLeod
from Kids Can Press
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Always Inventing
by Tom L. Matthews
from National Geographic
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.99
Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin
by James Cross Giblin
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-4th grade
2001 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.99
Amelia to Zora
1st edition from Charlesbridge
for 3rd-5th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$7.95
Ancient Civilizations: China
Ancient Civilizations
by Valerie Bodden
Reprint from Creative Paperbooks
for 3rd-6th grade
in China (Location: HISMC-CHI)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Art Coloring Book
by Sarah Courtauld
from Usborne
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Usborne Activities (Location: ACT-USB)
$5.40 (1 in stock)
Art Smart: Spot the Details and Find Out the Facts
Act from Dover Publications
for 1st-7th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Beatrice's Goat
by Page McBrier
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Beethoven Lives Upstairs
by Barbara Nichol
for 3rd-8th grade
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin
by Marguerite Henry & Wesley Dennis
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$6.39
Brides from Around the World - Paper Dolls
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-5th grade
in Dover Paper Dolls (Location: COL-DOLL)
Changing Times: Health & Disease
by Kathy Elgin
1st edition from Compass Point Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in History of Science & Mathematics (Location: SCI-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Charlotte in Giverny
by Joan MacPhail Knight
Reprint from Chronicle Books
for 3rd-8th grade
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
Choppers!
Step into Reading Level 4
by Susan E. Goodman
from Random House
for Grades 2-3
in Step into Reading (Location: EAR-STEP)
$5.99
Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters
by Fredrick & Patricia McKissack
from Scholastic Press
for 3rd-6th grade
1995 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
Civil War Handbook - Union Lieutenant
by Robin Robinson
from Silverleaf Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Country Artist
by David R. Collins
from First Avenue Editions
Biography for Preschool-3rd Grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Cycle of Rice, Cycle of Life
by Jan Reynolds
from Lee & Low Books
for 3rd-5th grade
in Food & Farming Around the World (Location: HISMC-FOOD)
Day of Ahmed's Secret
by Florence Parry Heide, Judith Heide Gilliland
1st Mulberry ed from HarperCollins
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velasquez
Art For Children
by Ernest Raboff
from HarperCollins
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Discovering Great Artists
by MaryAnn F. Kohl & Kim Solga
2nd edition from Chicago Review Press
for Preschool-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$19.99
Discovering Great Artists (old)
by MaryAnn F. Kohl & Kim Solga
from Bright Ring Publishing
for Preschool-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
DK Biography: Marie Curie
by Vicki Cobb
from DK Children
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Draw 50 Boats, Ships, Trucks, and Trains
by Lee Ames
from Watson-Guptill Publications
for 3rd-8th grade
in Draw 50 (Location: ELE-ARTD50)
$9.99
Duke Ellington
by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (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)
$6.99
Dumpling Soup
by Jama Kim Rattigan & Lillian Hsu
Reprint from Little, Brown & Company
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Edward MacDowell and His Cabin in the Pines
by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher
from Zeezok Publishing
for 1st-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
Elizabeth Fry
from Emerald Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Eureka! It's Television!
by Jeanne Bendick
from Millbrook Press
for 2nd-4th grade
in Inventions & Discoveries (Location: SCI-INV)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Explore South America
Explore the Continents
by Bobbie Kalman
from Crabtree Publishing
for 3rd-5th grade
in Latin & South America (Location: HISMC-LAT)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Famous Children: Haydn
by Ann Rachlin
from Barron's
for 1st-3rd grade
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Famous Children: Mozart
by Ann Rachlin
from Barron's
for 1st-3rd grade
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
$4.50 (2 in stock)
First Flight
DK Eyewitness Readers Level 4
by Caryn Jenner
from DK Children
in DK Readers (Location: EAR-DK)
$4.99
Five Notable Inventors
by Wade Hudson
from Cartwheel Books
in Scholastic / Hello Reader! (Location: EAR-SCH)
$1.50 (1 in stock)
Franz Schubert and His Merry Friends
by Opal Wheeler & Sybil Deucher
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
Frederic Chopin, Son of Poland: Early Years
by Opal Wheeler, illustrated by Christine Price
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
Frederic Chopin, Son of Poland: Later Years
by Opal Wheeler, illustrated by Christine Price
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
George Washington Carver
by Matt Doeden
from Barnes & Noble
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
George Washington Carver: The Peanut Wizard
by Laura Driscoll
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Giants of Science: Isaac Newton
by Kathleen Krull, Illustrated by Boris Kulikov
from Puffin Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Girls Think of Everything
by Catherine Thimmesh
from Houghton Mifflin
for 3rd-4th grade
in Inventions & Discoveries (Location: SCI-INV)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Glorious Flight
by Martin & Alice Provensen
from Puffin Books
Historical Non-Fiction/Picture Books for 1st-3rd grade
1984 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Grandfather Counts
by Alfredo Schifini, Deborah J Short, Josefina Villamil Tinajero
Reprint from Lee & Low Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Handel at the Court of Kings
by Opal Wheeler
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
Helicopters
Usborne Beginners Plus
by Emily Bone
from Usborne
for 3rd-6th grade
in Usborne Beginners (Location: SCI-USBREA)
Henry Ford
by Dina El Nabli
from HarperCollins
for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Hidden Figures: Young Reader's Edition
from Harper
for 3rd-6th grade
in Space Race & Exploration (Location: HISA-20SPR)
$9.99
Horses in Battle - Coloring Book
by John Green
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Horse Coloring Books (Location: COL-HOR)
$3.99
Houses and Homes
by Ann Morris
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-6th grade
in Houses & Homes (Location: HISMC-HH)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
How a Book is Made
by Aliki
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.99
How a Book is Made
by Aliki
from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World
by Marjorie Priceman
from Dragonfly Books
Humor for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
If You Were Me and Lived In... Australia
A Child's Introduction to Culture around the World Volume 8
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Australia & Oceania (Location: HISMC-AU)
$10.99
If You Were Me and Lived in... China
An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in China (Location: HISMC-CHI)
$10.99
If You Were Me and Lived in... Colonial America
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
If You Were Me and Lived in... Egypt
A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World Volume 17
by Carole P. Roman
for 1st-3rd grade
in Near & Middle East (Location: HISMC-NME)
$10.99
If You Were Me and Lived in... Elizabethan England
An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time Volume 3
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Great Britain / England (Location: HISMC-BRIT)
$14.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
If you were me and lived in... France
by Carole P. Roman
for 1st-3rd grade
in Europe (Location: HISMC-EUR)
If You Were Me and Lived in... Greece
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
If You Were Me and Lived in... India
A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World Volume 7
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Asia (Location: HISMC-ASIA)
If You Were Me and Lived in... Italy
by Carole P. Roman
for 1st-3rd grade
in Europe (Location: HISMC-EUR)
$10.99
If You Were Me and Lived In... Mexico
for 1st-3rd grade
in Latin & South America (Location: HISMC-LAT)
If You Were Me and Lived in... Peru
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Latin & South America (Location: HISMC-LAT)
$10.99
If You Were Me and Lived In... Russia
A Child's Introduction to Culture Around the World
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Europe (Location: HISMC-EUR)
If You Were Me and Lived In... South Korea
A Child's Introduction to Cultures around the World
by Carole P. Roman
for 1st-3rd grade
in Asia (Location: HISMC-ASIA)
If You Were Me and Lived in... the American West (Volume 7)
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
If You Were Me and Lived in... Turkey
A Child's Introduction to Children's culture Around the World Volume 4
by Carole P. Roman
for 1st-3rd grade
in Near & Middle East (Location: HISMC-NME)
If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient China
An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time Volume 4
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in China (Location: HISMC-CHI)
If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient Greece
An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time Volume 1
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
If You Were Me and Lived in...Brazil
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Latin & South America (Location: HISMC-LAT)
If You Were Me and Lived in...Hungary
A Child's Introduction to Culture Around the World Volume 14
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Europe (Location: HISMC-EUR)
If You Were Me and Lived in...Kenya
A Child's Introduction to Culture around the World Volume 5
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Africa (Location: HISMC-AFR)
If You Were Me and Lived in...Norway
by Carole P. Roman
for 1st-3rd grade
in Europe (Location: HISMC-EUR)
If You Were Me and Lived in...Portugal
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Europe (Location: HISMC-EUR)
$10.99
If You Were Me and Lived in...Renaissance Italy
An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time Volume 2
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Renaissance & Reformation (Location: HISW-REN)
If You Were Me and Lived in...Scotland
A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World Volume 15
by Carole P. Roman
for 1st-3rd grade
in Europe (Location: HISMC-EUR)
If You Were Me and Lived in...the Middle Ages (Volume 6)
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
Igor Stravinsky
Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers
by Mike Venezia
from Children's Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Industrial Revolution
by Carla Mooney
from Nomad Press
for 2nd-8th grade
in Industrialization & Organized Labor (Location: HISA-19IND)
$15.95 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Isaac Newton and the Laws of Motion
by Andrea Gianopoulos
1st edition from Capstone Press
for 1st-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.95 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Johann Sebastian Bach
Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers
by Mike Venezia
from Children's Press
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
Joseph Haydn
by Opal Wheeler
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
Journey to Monticello
Adventures in Colonial America
by James E. Knight
from Troll Communications
Non-fiction for 1st-4th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
Katie Meets the Impressionists
by James Mayhew
from Orchard Books
for 1st-4th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
Kids' Multicultural Cookbook
by Deanna F. Cook
from Williamson Publishing Company
for 3rd-5th grade
in Cooking for Kids (Location: COOK-KID)
Leonard Bernstein
by Mike Venezia
from Children's Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
Leonardo da Vinci
by Diane Stanley
from HarperCollins
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
1997 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$11.99
Leonardo da Vinci
by Norman V. Marshall
from Silver Burdett Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Leonardo da Vinci for Kids
by Janis Herbert
from Chicago Review Press
Biography/Activity Book for 3rd-8th grade
in Renaissance & Reformation (Location: HISW-REN)
$17.95
Life and Times of the Peanut
by Charles Micucci
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 2nd-4th grade
in Food & Farming Around the World (Location: HISMC-FOOD)
Life Like Mine
by DK Publishing
Reprint from DK Children
for 3rd-5th grade
in Diversity & Multicultural Books (Location: HISMC-MUL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Listening to Crickets
by Candice F. Ransom
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 3rd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (4 in stock)
Lives of the Artists
by Kathleen Krull
Reprint from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 3rd-6th grade
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
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