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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Abraham Lincoln & His Family - Paper Dolls
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Adventures of Richard Wagner
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Always Inventing
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Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin
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Amelia Earhart: Young Aviator
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Amelia to Zora
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American Family of the Civil War Era - Paper Dolls
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Art Smart: Spot the Details and Find Out the Facts
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Bach's Goldberg Variations
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Benjamin Franklin: Young Printer
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Bravo! Brava!
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Child's Introduction to the Orchestra
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Child's Introduction to the World
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Children Just Like Me
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Civil War Fashions - Coloring Book
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Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross
Childhood of Famous Americans
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Classical Acts and Facts Science Cards: Seeking to Know
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Colonial and Early American Fashions - Coloring Book
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Coloring Book of Early Composers
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Come Look With Me: Artist at Work
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Come Look with Me: Enjoying Art with Children
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Come Look With Me: Exploring Landscape Art With Children
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Composers Activity-Pak
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Creative God Colorful Us
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Day of Ahmed's Secret
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Dear Benjamin Banneker
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Discovering Great Artists
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DK Biography: Marie Curie
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Draw 50 Boats, Ships, Trucks, and Trains
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Drawing American Art Volume II
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Drummer Boy's Battle
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Duke Ellington
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Edward MacDowell and His Cabin in the Pines
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Edward MacDowell and His Cabin in the Pines - MP3 Audio Book
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Elizabeth Blackwell: Girl Doctor
Childhood of Famous Americans
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Elizabeth Fry
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Empire Fashions - Coloring Book
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Everyday Dress of the American Colonial Period - Coloring Book
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Fashions from India - Coloring Book
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Fashions of the First Ladies - Coloring Book
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Fashions of the Old South - Coloring Book
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First Flight
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$4.99
Foster/MacDowell Lapbook CD
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Franz Schubert and His Merry Friends
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Franz Schubert and His Merry Friends - Study Guide
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Frederic Chopin, Son of Poland: Early Years
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Frederic Chopin, Son of Poland: Later Years
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French Baroque and Rococo Fashions - Coloring Book
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Girl Who Drew Butterflies
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2019 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
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$17.99
Glorious Flight
by Martin & Alice Provensen
from Puffin Books
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1984 Caldecott Medal winner
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Godey's Fashions - Coloring Book
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Great Composers - Coloring Book
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Handel at the Court of Kings
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$13.95
Hands-On Science Mysteries for Grades 3-6
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$29.95
Haydn's Farewell Symphony
by Anna Harwell Celenza & JoAnn E. Kitchel
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Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$16.95
Henry Ford: Young Man with Ideas
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Hazel B. Aird
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Hidden Figures: Young Reader's Edition
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History of Art - Flashcards
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History of Art - Workbook
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$39.00
History of Fire Engines - Coloring Book
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$4.99
History of Flight - Coloring Book
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History of Science - Guide
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2nd edition from Beautiful Feet Books
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$18.95
History of the American Automobile - Coloring Book
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by A. G. Smith & Randy Mason
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History of the Sword - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
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Dover Coloring Books
by Bruce LaFontaine
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$4.99
Horses in Battle - Coloring Book
by John Green
from Dover Publications
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$3.99
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