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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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74 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 3rd grade (Ages 8-9), Trade Paperback, New Books & Materials
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
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
Always Inventing
by Tom L. Matthews
from National Geographic
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
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
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)
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)
$7.99
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
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
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 $14.00 (1 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
1st edition from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 3rd-6th grade
1999 Caldecott Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.99
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
First Flight
DK Eyewitness Readers Level 4
by Caryn Jenner
from DK Children
in DK Readers (Location: EAR-DK)
$4.99
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
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)
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
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
How a Book is Made
by Aliki
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.99
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... 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... Italy
by Carole P. Roman
for 1st-3rd grade
in Europe (Location: HISMC-EUR)
$10.99
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...Portugal
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
for 1st-3rd grade
in Europe (Location: HISMC-EUR)
$10.99
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)
Joseph Haydn
by Opal Wheeler
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
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 for Kids
by Janis Herbert
from Chicago Review Press
Biography/Activity Book for 3rd-8th grade
in Renaissance & Reformation (Location: HISW-REN)
$17.95
Louis Braille
by Margaret Davidson
from Scholastic Inc.
Biography for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.99 $3.50 (3 in stock)
Maps & Globes
by Jack Knowlton, Harriett Barton
from HarperCollins
for 1st-3rd grade
in Cartography & Mapping Resources (Location: GEO-MAP)
$7.99 $4.00 (6 in stock)
Marie Curie's Search for Radium
by Beverley Birch
from Barron's
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.99 $4.00 (2 in stock)
Me on the Map
by Joan Sweeney, Illustrated by Qin Leng
from Dragonfly Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Introductory Geography (Location: GEO-INTRO)
$7.99
Meet The Great Composers Book 1 (with CD)
by June Montgomery, Maurice Hinson
from Alfred Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$20.99 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Meet The Great Composers Book 2: Classroom Kit
by June Montgomery, Maurice Hinson
from Alfred Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$20.00
Michelangelo
by Diane Stanley
from HarperCollins
Picture Book Biography for 2nd-4th grade
2001 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.99
Musical Genius
by Barbara Allman
from Darby Creek Publishing
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.95
Ox, House, Stick
by Don Robb
from Charlesbridge
for 3rd-7th grade
in History of Books & Language (Location: HISV-BOOK)
$7.95 $4.50 (2 in stock)
Paganini, Master of Strings
by Opal Wheeler
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
Pasteur's Fight Against Microbes
by Beverly Birch
from Barron's
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.99 $4.50 (6 in stock)
People
by Peter Spier
from Dell Publishing
Non-fiction for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$12.95
Picture History of Great Inventors
by Gillian Clements
from Beautiful Feet Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Inventions & Discoveries (Location: SCI-INV)
$17.95
Robert Schumann and Mascot Ziff
by Opal Wheeler
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
Sebastian Bach
by Opal Wheeler & Sybil Deucher
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
Spot the Differences Book 3
by Susan L. Rattiner, ed.
from Dover Publications
for 3rd-7th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$10.99
Spot the Differences Book 4
by Alan Weller
from Dover Publications
for 3rd-7th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$10.99
Star-Spangled Banner
by Peter Spier
from Yearling
American History for 2nd-6th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$10.99
Star-Spangled Banner in Translation
by Elizabeth, Raum
from Capstone Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Landmarks & Symbols of the United States (Location: HISV-LANUS)
$7.95
Starry Messenger
by Peter Sis
from Square Fish Publishing
Picture Book Biography for 3rd-6th grade
1997 Caldecott Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.99
Stephen Foster and His Little Dog Tray
by Opal Wheeler
from Zeezok Publishing
for 1st-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
Story of Clocks and Calendars
by Betsy & Giulio Maestro
Reprint from HarperCollins
for 3rd-8th grade
in Time & Clocks (Location: MATM-TIME)
$9.99
Story of Peter Tchaikovsky
by Opal Wheeler
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
Story of the Wright Brothers and Their Sister
by Lois Mills
from Christian Liberty Press
for 3rd grade
in CLP Phonics & Reading (Location: REA-CLP)
$11.75
Sugaring Time
by Kathryn Lasky
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for Preschool-3rd grade
1984 Newbery Honor Book
in Food & Farming Around the World (Location: HISMC-FOOD)
$9.99
Ten Mile Day
by Mary Ann Fraser
from Henry Holt and Company
Historical Non-Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
in Transcontinental Railroad (Location: HISA-19TRR)
$10.99
Thomas Edison: The Great Inventor
DK Readers Level 4
by Caryn Jenner
from DK Children
for 3rd-6th grade
in DK Readers (Location: EAR-DK)
$3.99
What Is the Panama Canal? (What Was...?)
What Was?
by Janet Pascal
1st edition from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Gilded Age (1865-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
$5.99 $4.00 (2 in stock)
What Makes the Light Bright, Thomas Edison
by Melvin Berger
from Scholastic Inc.
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.99
Who in the World Was the Secretive Printer?
by Robert Beckham & Jed Mickle
from Well-Trained Mind Press
Picture Book Biography for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.50
Who Was Albert Einstein?
Who Was?...Series
by Jess Braillier
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Who Was? biographies (Location: BIO-WHO)
$6.99
Who Was Alexander Graham Bell?
Who Was?...Series
by Bonnie Bader
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Who Was? biographies (Location: BIO-WHO)
$5.99
Who Was Louis Armstrong?
Who Was?...Series
by Yona Zeldis McDonough
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Who Was? biographies (Location: BIO-WHO)
$5.99
Who Was Thomas Alva Edison?
Who Was?...Series
by Margaret Frith
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 3rd-5th grade
in Who Was? biographies (Location: BIO-WHO)
$5.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Who Were the Beatles?
Who Was?...Series
by Geoff Edgers
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Who Was? biographies (Location: BIO-WHO)
$6.99
Wildheart
from Yosemite Conservancy
for 2nd-5th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$12.99
Wonderful Houses Around the World
by Yoshio Komatsu
from Shelter Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Houses & Homes (Location: HISMC-HH)
$12.95
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