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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All the Children of the World
by Karen Mezek Leimert
First Edition from Nelsonword Publishing Group
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Art Coloring Book
by Sarah Courtauld
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Art Smart: Spot the Details and Find Out the Facts
Act from Dover Publications
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Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse
by Eric Carle
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Baby Blessing
by Welleran Poltarnees
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Beatrice's Goat
by Page McBrier
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
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Boll Weevil
by Glen Rounds
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Brave Harriet
by Marissa Moss
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Camille and the Sunflowers
by Laurence Anholt
1st edition from Barron's
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Camille Pissarro
by Alix Wood
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Charles Darwin's Around-the-World Adventure
by Jennifer Thermes
from Abrams Books for Young Readers
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Book of Art
by Lucy Micklethwait
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Story of the Child's Book
by Raven
from F. A. Davis Company
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Children from Australia to Zimbabwe
by Anna Rhesa Versola, Maya Ajmera
Revised ed. from Charlesbridge
for 1st-3rd grade
in Diversity & Multicultural Books (Location: HISMC-MUL)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Children Just Like Me
by Anabel Kindersley, Barnabas Kindersley
from DK Publishing
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Christopher Columbus
by Elaine Murray Stone
500 Anv from Tyndale House
Biography for Preschool-3rd Grade
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City Book
by Lucille Corcos
from Golden Press
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Artist
by Taylor Morrison
from HMH Books for Young Readers
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Classical Acts and Facts Science Cards: Famous Scientists (old)
1st edition from Classical Conversations
for Kindergarten-8th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois
by Amy Novesky, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
from Abrams Books for Young Readers
for Preschool-2nd grade
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velasquez
Art For Children
by Ernest Raboff
from HarperCollins
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Discovering Great Artists (old)
by MaryAnn F. Kohl & Kim Solga
from Bright Ring Publishing
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
Drum Dream Girl
by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Rafael Lopez
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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Etcher's Studio
by Arthur Geisert
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Everybody Cooks Rice
from First Avenue Editions
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Eye for Color
by Natasha Wing, Art by Julia Breckenreid
from Henry Holt and Company
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Families Around the World
by Jo E. Moore
from Evan-Moor Educational Publishers
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Famous Children: Haydn
by Ann Rachlin
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Famous Children: Mozart
by Ann Rachlin
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$4.50 (2 in stock)
Famous Children: Picasso
by Tony Hart, illustrated by Susan Hellard
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Flight
by Robert Burleigh; illustrated by Mike Wimmer
from Philomel Books
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1992 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Food and Recipes of Westward Expansion
Cooking Throughout American History
by George Erdosh
1st edition from PowerKids Press
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
George Washington Carver
by Carol Greene
from Children's Press
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Girl with a Watering Can
by Ewa Zadrzynska, illustrated by Arnold Skolnick
from Chameleon Books, Inc.
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$5.00 (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
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Go, Go, Go! Kids on the Move
by Stephen R. Swinburne
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Gonna Sing My Head Off
by Kathleen Krull
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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Gonna Sing My Head Off
by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Allen Garns
First Printing from Scholastic Reference
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Hairdo!
by Ruth Freeman Swain, illustrated by Cat Bowman Smith
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Henry Ford
by Dina El Nabli
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Hieroglyphs
by Joyce Milton, illustrated by Charles Micucci
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Horn for Louis
Stepping Stones
by Eric A. Kimmel
from Penguin Random House
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Hot Peas & Barley-O - Book & CD
by Susan Brumfield
from Hal Leonard Corp
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I Spy a Freight Train: Transportation in Art
by Lucy Micklethwait
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
If the World Were a Village
by David J. Smith
1st edition from Kids Can Press
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
If You Were Me and Lived in... Elizabethan England
An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time Volume 3
by Carole P. Roman
from CreateSpace
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$14.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Isaac Newton and the Laws of Motion
by Andrea Gianopoulos
1st edition from Capstone Press
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Jazz on a Saturday Night
by Leo & Diane Dillon
from Blue Sky press
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Joke's on George
by Michael O. Tunnell; illustrated by Kathy Osborn
from Tambourine Books
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Let's Find Out About Ice Cream
by Mary Ebeltoft Reid, photographs by John Williams
from Scholastic Inc.
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$2.50 (4 in stock)
Life and Work of Auguste Rodin
by Richard Tames
from Heinemann Library
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Life and Work of Frederic Remington
by Ernestine Giesecke
from Heinemann Library
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Life and Work of Henry Moore
by Sean Connolly
from Heinemann Library
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Linnea in Monet's Garden
by Christina Bjork & Lena Anderson
from R&S Books
Biography for Preschool- 3rd Grade
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Lion Dancer
by Kate Waters & Madeline Slovenz-Low, photographs by Martha Cooper
from Scholastic Inc.
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Maps & Globes
by Jack Knowlton, Harriett Barton
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Marie Curie
by Ibi Lepsckey
from Trumpet Club
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Masterpiece of the Month
by Jennifer Thomas
from Teacher Created Materials, Inc.
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Me on the Map
by Joan Sweeney & Annette Cable
from Dragonfly Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Me on the Map
by Joan Sweeney, Illustrated by Qin Leng
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Memoria Press First Grade Art Cards
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More Than Meets the Eye
by Bob Raczka
from Millbrook Press
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My Brothers' Flying Machine
by Jane Yolen
from Little, Brown & Company
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My Librarian Is a Camel
by Margriet Ruurs
from Boyds Mill Press
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
My Little Island
by Frane Lessac
from HarperCollins
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My Name is Georgia
from Harcourt, Brace & Company
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Nothing to Wear But Clothes
by Frank Jupo
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Old Ironsides
by David L. Weitzman
from Sandpiper Books
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
People in the Past
Dorling Kindersley Picturepedia
from DK Publishing
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Picture Book of Thomas Alva Edison
by David A. Adler, illustrated by John & Alexandra Wallner
from Holiday House
Picture Book Biography for 1st-3rd grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Picture Book of Thomas Alva Edison
by David A. Adler
from Holiday House
Picture Book Biography for 1st-3rd grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Rare Treasure
by Don Brown
from Houghton Mifflin
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$16.00 (1 in stock)
Sailing the Unknown
by Michael Rosen, Illustrated by Maria Cristina Pritelli
from Creative Editions
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Secret World of Walter Anderson
by Hester Bass, illustrated by E. B. Lewis
from Candlewick Press
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Songs to Grow On
by Beatrice Landeck, piano arrangements by Florence White, illustrated by David Stone Martin
from Edward B. Marks Music Corporation
for Kindergarten-6th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Stephen Biesty's Cross-Sections: Man-of-War
by Stephen Biesty
from DK Publishing
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Stephen Foster
Lives and Times
by Peggy Pancella
from Heinemann Library
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Stephen Foster - Study Guide
by Judy Wilcox
from Zeezok Publishing
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in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Stories of the Great Composers Book 1 (with CD)
by June Montgomery, Maurice Hinson
from Alfred Publishing
for 1st-6th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Incredible Orchestra
by Bruce Koscielniak
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 1st-3rd grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Strike Up the Orchestra
from Friedman / Fairfax
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$8.50 (1 in stock)
Sweet Dreams
by Pamela Prince, featuring art by Bessie Pease Gutmann
from Chronicle Books
for Nursery-1st grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Sweet Music in Harlem
by Debbie A. Taylor, Illustrated by Frank Morrison
from Lee & Low Books
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Tchaikovsky Discovers America
by Esther Kalman
from Scholastic Inc.
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Three Little Indians
by Gene S. Stuart, illustrations by Louis S. Glanzman
from National Geographic
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Throw Your Tooth on the Roof
by Selby Beeler
from HMH Books for Young Readers
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Usborne Book of Living Long Ago
by Felicity Brooks & Helen Edom
from Usborne
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in Everyday Life in History (Location: HISV-EVERY)
$7.20 (3 in stock)
Usborne Book of Peoples of the World
by Roma Trundle
from Usborne
for 1st-3rd grade
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$2.00 (4 in stock)
Visiting the Art Museum
by Laurine Krasny Brown & Marc Brown
from Child's Play Ltd.
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
What's Inside? Boats
What's Inside?
from DK Publishing
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
What's Inside? Great Inventions
What's Inside?
from DK Publishing
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Where Do I Live?
by Neil Chesanow
from Barron's
for 1st-3rd grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Writing it Down
by Vicki Cobb, Illustrated by Marylin Hafner
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 1st-3rd grade
in How Things Work (Location: SCIREF-HOW)
$7.00 (1 in stock)