My Account Wish List Shopping Cart Log In
Store Location

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.
Did you find this review helpful?
Parent Categories
Cultural History
Cultural History
Subcategories
165 Items found Print
Filter
Active Filters: 5th grade (Ages 10-11), Hardcover, In-Stock Books & Materials
Ancient Celts: Archaeology Unlocks the Secrets of the Celts' Past
National Geographic Investigates
by Jen Green
from National Geographic
for 3rd-6th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Art and Civilization: Ancient Rome
Art and Civilization
by Giovanni Di Pasquale & Matilde Bardi
from Peter Bedrick Books
Roman History Reference for 4th-6th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$12.00 (2 in stock)
Art for Children: Renaissance
Art for Children
by Lillo Canto
from Chelsea House Publishing
Art Appreciation for 4th-6th grade
in Renaissance & Reformation (Location: HISW-REN)
$20.00 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Art of the Southeastern Indians
by Shirley Glubok
from Macmillan
for 3rd-6th grade
in Native Americans (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Baby Blessing
by Welleran Poltarnees
from Laughing Elephant
for Kindergarten-Adult
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Bach's Goldberg Variations
by Anna Harwell Celenza & JoAnn E. Kitchel
from Charlesbridge
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$16.95
Benjamin Franklin
by R. Conrad Stein
from Rand McNally
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (2 in stock)
Big Golden Book of Christopher Columbus and Other Early Adventurers
by Russell Bourne, illustrated by Thomas LaPadula
from Golden Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Blockade Runners and Ironclads
by Wallace B. Black
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-5th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Bomb
by Steve Sheinkin
First Edition from Flash Point
for 5th-9th grade
2013 Newbery Honor Book, 2013 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
in World War II (1939-1945) (Location: HISA-20WW2)
$24.99
Book of Marvels: Marvels of the Occident
from Living Book Press
for 3rd-Adult
in International Landmarks & Symbols (Location: HISV-LANINT)
$27.99
Book of Marvels: Marvels of the Orient
by Richard Halliburton
from Living Book Press
for 3rd-12th grade
in International Landmarks & Symbols (Location: HISV-LANINT)
$27.99
Bravo! Brava!
by Anne Siberell
from Oxford University
for 3rd-8th grade
in Opera & Choral Music (Location: ELE-MUSOP)
$24.00 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Captive
by Scott O'Dell
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 5th-8th grade
Hans Christian Anderson Award
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Carl Larsson's A Home
by Carl Larsson and Lennart Rudstrom
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 3rd-Adult
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Charles A. Lindbergh
by James Cross Giblin
from Clarion Books
Biography for 5th-8th grade
1998 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.00 (2 in stock)
Child's Introduction to Art
by Heather Alexander, illustrated by Meredith Hamilton
from Black Dog & Leventhal
for 3rd-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Introduction to the Orchestra
by Robert Levine
First Revised Edition from Black Dog & Leventhal
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$19.99
Child's Introduction to the World
by Heather Alexander
from Black Dog & Leventhal
for 3rd-5th grade
in Introductory Geography (Location: GEO-INTRO)
$19.99
Children Just Like Me: Celebrations
by Anabel Kindersley, Barnabas Kindersley
from DK Publishing
for 3rd-5th grade
in Diversity & Multicultural Books (Location: HISMC-MUL)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Children of Foreign Lands
by Elizabeth F. McCrady, verses by Kate Cox Goddard, illustrated by Ninon Macknight
from Platt and Munk Publishers
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Readers & Textbooks (Location: VIN-READ)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Chopin
by George Ruttkay
from Hyperion Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus
Sowers Biographies
by Bennie Rhodes
from Mott Media
for 4th-6th grade
in Sowers Biographies (Location: BIO-SOW)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus and His Brothers
by Amy Hogeboom
from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Columbus: The Triumphant Failure
by Oliver Postgate & Naomi Linnell
from Franklin Watts
for 2nd-5th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Daily Life in the Pilgrim Colony 1636
by Paul Erickson
from Clarion Books
for 3rd-5th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
DK Atlas of Exploration
by Anita Ganeri, Andrea MIlls
from DK Publishing
for 4th-6th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$14.00 (2 in stock)
DK Eyewitness Visual Dictionary of Military Uniforms
DK Visual Dictionaries
from DK Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Military & Weapon History (Location: HISV-MILIT)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Arms & Armor
DK Eyewitness Series
by Michele Byam
from DK Publishing
Military History for 4th-8th grade
in Military & Weapon History (Location: HISV-MILIT)
$16.99
DK Eyewitness: Battle
DK Eyewitness Series
by Richard Holmes
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in Military & Weapon History (Location: HISV-MILIT)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Explorer
by Rupert Matthews
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Explorer
DK Eyewitness Series
by Rupert Matthews
1st edition from DK Publishing
HIstory Reference for 4th-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Knight
DK Eyewitness Series
by Christopher Gravett
from DK Publishing
Middle Ages HIstory Reference for 4th-8th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Viking
DK Eyewitness Series
by Susan M. Margeson
from DK Publishing
History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$16.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
DK Super Cool Tech
from DK Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Inventions & Discoveries (Location: SCI-INV)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Doctor Like Papa
by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock, Illustrated by James Bernardin
First Edition from HarperCollins
for 2nd-5th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.00 (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)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Eating the Plates
by Lucille Recht Penner
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for 4th-8th grade
in Pilgrims at Plymouth (Location: HISA-17PIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Empires Lost and Won
by Albert Marrin
1st edition from Atheneum
for 5th-12th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
English Weapons & Warfare 449-1660
from Barnes & Noble
for 5th-Adult
in Military & Weapon History (Location: HISV-MILIT)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Epidemic
by Brian Ward
from DK Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in History of Medicine (Location: SCI-HIS)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Exploration and Conquest
by Betsy & Giulio Maestro
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 3rd-7th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Exploration and Conquest
by Betsy & Giulio Maestro
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 3rd-7th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Explorers & Discoverers - 4 Volume Set
from UXL Publishing
biographical encyclopedia for 5th-8th grade
in World History Reference (Location: HISW-REF)
$30.00 (1 in stock)
First Starry Night
by Joan Shaddox Isom
from Charlesbridge
for 4th-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Flight: A Panorama of Aviation
by Melvin B. Zisfein; illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker
from Pantheon Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Francisco Pizarro and the Conquest of the Inca
by Gina DeAngelis
from Chelsea House Publishing
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Friar and the Knight
by Flora Strousse, illustrated by William Wilson
from P.J. Kenedy & Sons
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
From the Eagle's Wing
by Hildegarde Hoyt Swift, illustrated by Lynd Ward
from William Morrow & Company
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Genius
by Marfe Ferguson Delano
from National Geographic
for 5th-9th grade
2006 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Getting There
by Suzanne Hilton
from Westminster Press
for 5th-Adult
in Things That Go (Location: SCI-TTGO)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
Girl Who Drew Butterflies
by Joyce Sidman
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
for 3rd-8th grade
2019 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99
Go Figure! A Totally Cool Book About Numbers
by Johnny Ball
from DK Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in History of Science & Mathematics (Location: SCI-HIS)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Gondoliers, or, The King of Barataria
by Gilbert & Sullivan, adapted by Robert Lawrence, illustrated by Sheilah Beckett
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 5th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Great Discoveries and Amazing Adventures
by Claire Llewellyn
from Kingfisher
for 4th-8th grade
in Archaeology (Location: HISRF-ARCH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Great Explorers
by Joyce Grosseck & Elizabeth Attwood
for 4th-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Gristmill
Historic Communities
by Bobbie Kalman
from Crabtree Publishing
for 3rd-8th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Haydn's Farewell Symphony
by Anna Harwell Celenza & JoAnn E. Kitchel
from Charlesbridge
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$16.95
Houses of Bark
by Bonnie Shemie
from Tundra Books (NY)
for 4th-6th grade
in Native Americans (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Houses of Snow, Skin and Bones
Native Dwellings: the Far North
by Bonnie Shemie
from Tundra Books (NY)
for 4th-6th grade
in Native Americans (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
How Artists See Feelings
by Colleen Carroll
1st Library Ed from Abbeville Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
How Artists See the Elements
by Colleen Carroll
from Abbeville Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
How Children Lived
by Chris Rice, Melanie Rice
for 3rd-5th grade
in Diversity & Multicultural Books (Location: HISMC-MUL)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
How High Can We Climb?
by Jeannine Atkins
1st edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 5th-8th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
I, Juan de Pareja
by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
1994 Printing from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Realistic Fiction/Slavery for 5th-8th grade
1966 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Ice Story
by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
1st edition from Clarion Books
for 4th-8th grade
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Ideas That Changed the World: Transportation
by Philip Wilkinson and Michael Pollard, Illustrated by Robert Ingpen
from Chelsea House Publishing
for 4th-7th grade
in How Things Work (Location: SCIREF-HOW)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
If the World Were 100 People
by Jackie McCann, illustrated by Aaron Cushley
from Crown Books for Young Readers
for Kindergarten-6th grade
in Diversity & Multicultural Books (Location: HISMC-MUL)
$17.99
If You Were There in 1492
by Barbara Brenner
1st ed from Bradbury Press
for 3rd-5th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
In Search of Norman Rockwell's America
by Photography by Kevin Rivoli, Artwork by Norman Rockwell
from Howard Books
for 3rd-Adult
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark
by Rhoda Blumberg
1st edition from HarperCollins
Historical Reference for 4th-6th grade
in Lewis & Clark Expedition (1801-1803) (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Inventing the Future
by David Edward Sloane, Marfe Ferguson Delano
from National Geographic
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Jane's Pocket Guide Advanced Tactical Fighters
by Jeremy Flack
from HarperCollins
for 5th-10th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Kingfisher Atlas of World History
by Simon Adams
Revised from Kingfisher
for 3rd-5th grade
in Historical & Cultural Atlases (Location: HISRF-ATLAS)
$17.50 (1 in stock)
Kings, Queens, Knights, & Jesters
by Lynn Edelman Schnurnberger
from Harper & Row
for 3rd-6th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Kit Carson: Folk Hero and Man
by Noel B. Gerson
from Doubleday & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
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: Beautiful Dreamer
by Robert Byrd
1st edition from Dutton Children's Books
for 3rd-5th grade
2004 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Lewis and Clark and Me
by Laurie Myers
from Henry Holt and Company
Fictionalized Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Lewis & Clark Expedition (1801-1803) (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Librarian Who Measured the Earth
by Kathryn Lasky
from Little, Brown & Company
Biography for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.99 $12.00 (2 in stock)
Lindbergh
Classic Starts
by Torben Kuhlmann, Translated by David Henry Wilson
from NorthSouth
for 2nd-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$19.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Lindbergh Alone
by Brendan Gill
from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 4th-9th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Lives of the Artists
by M. B. Goffstein
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 3rd-8th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Long and Uncertain Journey
by Joan Goodman, Illustrated by Tom McNeely
from Mikaya Press
for 3rd-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Man Makes His World
by Patrick Lynch
from Edward Arnold
for 2nd-5th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Man Who Went to the Far Side of the Moon
by Bea Uusma Schyffert
from Chronicle Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Space Race & Exploration (Location: HISA-20SPR)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Maps
by Aleksandra Mizielinska, Daniel Mizielinski
from Big Picture Press
for 3rd-5th grade
in Introductory Geography (Location: GEO-INTRO)
$37.99
Marco Polo
by Charles P. Graves
from Chelsea House Publishing
Biography for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (3 in stock)
Marco Polo
by Nick McCarty
from National Geographic
for 5th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Marco Polo and the Medieval Explorers
by Rebecca Stefoff
from Chelsea House Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.00 (2 in stock)
Marguerite Makes a Book
by Bruce Robertson
from J. Paul Getty Museum
Picture Books for 2nd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$19.95
Matisse: Painter of the Essential
Art for Children
by Yolande Baillet
from Chelsea House Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Medical Technology: Inventing the Instruments
by Robert Mulcahy
from The Oliver Press, Inc.
for 4th-7th grade
in History of Medicine (Location: SCI-HIS)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Meet Christopher Columbus
by James de Kay
from Random House
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Men of Science and Invention
by Michael Blow
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 5th-8th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Metropolis
by Albert Lorenz
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Architecture and Sculpture (Location: ELE-ARC)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Mike and Dick on a Washington Apple Farm
The Farm Life Series
by Joan Liffring
from Follett Publishing Co.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Readers & Textbooks (Location: VIN-READ)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Military Uniforms, 1686-1918
A Grosset All-Color Guide
by Rene North, illustrated by John Berry
from Grosset & Dunlap
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Moonshot
by Brian Floca
Expanded Edition from Atheneum
for 1st-5th grade
2010 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$19.99
My Favorite Songs
by Maria Trapp
from Veritas Press
for Kindergarten-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$17.00
12
Sign Up!

Shop

Support

Hours & Directions

Learn more about our store location and hours

Connect

503.655.1951

hello@exodusbooks.com

19146 Molalla Ave,
Oregon City, OR 97045