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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163 Items found Print
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American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
by Robert M. Utley, Wilcomb E. Washburn
Revised from American Heritage Publishing Co.
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Ancient Celts: Archaeology Unlocks the Secrets of the Celts' Past
National Geographic Investigates
by Jen Green
from National Geographic
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Apollo on the Moon
by Henry S. F. Cooper, Jr.
from Dial Press
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$5.00 (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
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$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
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Art of the Southeastern Indians
by Shirley Glubok
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Baby Blessing
by Welleran Poltarnees
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Bach's Goldberg Variations
by Anna Harwell Celenza & JoAnn E. Kitchel
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Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$16.95
Battles of the Ancient World: 1285 BC ~ AD 451
by Kelly Devries, et. al
from Metro Books
for 6th-8th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Benjamin Franklin
by R. Conrad Stein
from Rand McNally
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$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
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Bomb
by Steve Sheinkin
First Edition from Flash Point
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2013 Newbery Honor Book, 2013 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
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$24.99
Book of Marvels: Marvels of the Occident
from Living Book Press
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$27.99
Book of Marvels: Marvels of the Orient
by Richard Halliburton
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Bravo! Brava!
by Anne Siberell
from Oxford University
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Captain Edward L. Beach: Around the World Under Water
by Beril Becker
from Kingston House
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Captive
by Scott O'Dell
from HMH Books for Young Readers
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Hans Christian Anderson Award
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$9.00 (2 in stock)
Carl Larsson's A Home
by Carl Larsson and Lennart Rudstrom
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
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$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
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$7.00 (2 in stock)
Child's Introduction to Art
by Heather Alexander, illustrated by Meredith Hamilton
from Black Dog & Leventhal
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Child's Introduction to the Orchestra
by Robert Levine
First Revised Edition from Black Dog & Leventhal
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$19.99
Chopin
by George Ruttkay
from Hyperion Press
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus
Sowers Biographies
by Bennie Rhodes
from Mott Media
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus and His Brothers
by Amy Hogeboom
from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Colonization of the Moon
by D. S. Halacy, Jr.
from Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Cry from the Earth
by John Bierhorst
from Four Winds Press
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DK Atlas of Exploration
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from DK Publishing
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$14.00 (2 in stock)
DK Eyewitness Visual Dictionary of Military Uniforms
DK Visual Dictionaries
from DK Publishing
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Arms & Armor
DK Eyewitness Series
by Michele Byam
from DK Publishing
Military History for 4th-8th grade
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$16.99
DK Eyewitness: Battle
DK Eyewitness Series
by Richard Holmes
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
History Reference for 4th-8th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Explorer
by Rupert Matthews
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$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
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$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
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Viking
DK Eyewitness Series
by Susan M. Margeson
from DK Publishing
History Reference for 4th-8th grade
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DK Super Cool Tech
from DK Publishing
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Duke Ellington
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
1st edition from Hyperion/Madison Press
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1999 Caldecott Honor Book
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Eating the Plates
by Lucille Recht Penner
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
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Empires Lost and Won
by Albert Marrin
1st edition from Atheneum
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English Children's Costume
1965 Reprint from A & C Black Ltd.
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English Weapons & Warfare 449-1660
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Epidemic
by Brian Ward
from DK Publishing
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$11.00 (1 in stock)
Exploration and Conquest
by Betsy & Giulio Maestro
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Exploration and Conquest
by Betsy & Giulio Maestro
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Explorers & Discoverers - 4 Volume Set
from UXL Publishing
biographical encyclopedia for 5th-8th grade
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$30.00 (1 in stock)
First Houses: Native American Homes and Sacred Structures
by Jean Guard Monroe, Ray A. Williamson, illustrated by Susan Johnston Carlson
from Houghton Mifflin
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
First Starry Night
by Joan Shaddox Isom
from Charlesbridge
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Flight: A Panorama of Aviation
by Melvin B. Zisfein; illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker
from Pantheon Books
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Forts of Canada
by Leslie F. Hannon
from McClelland & Stewart
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Francisco Pizarro and the Conquest of the Inca
by Gina DeAngelis
from Chelsea House Publishing
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Friar and the Knight
by Flora Strousse, illustrated by William Wilson
from P.J. Kenedy & Sons
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$16.00 (1 in stock)
From the Eagle's Wing
by Hildegarde Hoyt Swift, illustrated by Lynd Ward
from William Morrow & Company
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Genius
by Marfe Ferguson Delano
from National Geographic
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2006 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Getting There
by Suzanne Hilton
from Westminster Press
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$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
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$17.99
Go Figure! A Totally Cool Book About Numbers
by Johnny Ball
from DK Publishing
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$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
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
Great Artists - Great Composers: Portraits
from Amadeus Press
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Great Discoveries and Amazing Adventures
by Claire Llewellyn
from Kingfisher
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Great Explorers
by Joyce Grosseck & Elizabeth Attwood
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Great Scientists in Bite-Sized Chunks
by Nicola Chalton and Meredith MacArdle
from MJF Books
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Gristmill
Historic Communities
by Bobbie Kalman
from Crabtree Publishing
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Haydn's Farewell Symphony
by Anna Harwell Celenza & JoAnn E. Kitchel
from Charlesbridge
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$16.95
Houses of Bark
by Bonnie Shemie
from Tundra Books (NY)
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Houses of Snow, Skin and Bones
Native Dwellings: the Far North
by Bonnie Shemie
from Tundra Books (NY)
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
How Artists See Feelings
by Colleen Carroll
1st Library Ed from Abbeville Press
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How Artists See the Elements
by Colleen Carroll
from Abbeville Press
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$5.00 (2 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
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$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
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$17.99
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
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Jane's Pocket Guide Advanced Tactical Fighters
by Jeremy Flack
from HarperCollins
for 5th-10th grade
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Kate Greenaway
by Rodney K. Engen
from Harmony
for 6th-Adult
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Kings, Queens, Knights, & Jesters
by Lynn Edelman Schnurnberger
from Harper & Row
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Kit Carson: Folk Hero and Man
by Noel B. Gerson
from Doubleday & Company
for 4th-8th grade
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Lewis and Clark and Me
by Laurie Myers
from Henry Holt and Company
Fictionalized Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Lindbergh
Classic Starts
by Torben Kuhlmann, Translated by David Henry Wilson
from NorthSouth
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Lindbergh Alone
by Brendan Gill
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Lives of the Artists
by M. B. Goffstein
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Long and Uncertain Journey
by Joan Goodman, Illustrated by Tom McNeely
from Mikaya Press
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$9.00 (2 in stock)
Man Who Went to the Far Side of the Moon
by Bea Uusma Schyffert
from Chronicle Books
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
Marco Polo
by Charles P. Graves
from Chelsea House Publishing
Biography for 4th-6th grade
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$6.00 (3 in stock)
Marco Polo
by Nick McCarty
from National Geographic
for 5th-8th grade
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Marco Polo and the Medieval Explorers
by Rebecca Stefoff
from Chelsea House Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
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$7.00 (2 in stock)
Matisse: Painter of the Essential
Art for Children
by Yolande Baillet
from Chelsea House Publishing
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
Medical Technology: Inventing the Instruments
by Robert Mulcahy
from The Oliver Press, Inc.
for 4th-7th grade
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Meet Christopher Columbus
by James de Kay
from Random House
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$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)
Men-of-War
Seafarers
by David Howarth
1st edition from Time-Life Books
for 6th-12th grade
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Metropolis
by Albert Lorenz
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
My Favorite Songs
by Maria Trapp
from Veritas Press
for Kindergarten-Adult
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$17.00
Mysterious Voyage of Captain Kidd
Landmark #122
by A.B.C. Whipple
from Purple House Press
for 5th-9th grade
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$14.99
Nibbling on Einstein's Brain
by Diane Swanson
from Annick Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Clearance: Science & Health (Location: ZCLE-SCI)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Norman Rockwell's America
by Christopher Finch, Illustrated by Norman Rockwell
from Reader's Digest
for 3rd-Adult
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Norman Rockwell: Storyteller with a Brush
by Beverly Gherman
from Atheneum
for 3rd-7th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
North Pole
A Doubleday Signal Book
by Tony Simon, Illustrated by Albert Orbaan
from Doubleday & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
North Pole Was Here
by Andrew Revkin
from Kingfisher
for 5th-8th grade
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$2.00 (2 in stock)
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