Modern History

There isn't more history in the last five centuries than all the previous millennia, we just have more plentiful records of it. In all honesty, sometimes the plethora of detail isn't only overwhelming, it obscures the whole point of the story. As humans, we're all too susceptible to the lure of obscurity, to the desire for darkness where there ought to be light.

In many ways, this is the chief characteristic of modern history. Mankind seems to have accepted Enlightenment ideals en masse, and the result is the non-stop acquisition of knowledge, as though information could shut us off from the eye of a just and jealous God. Evolutionary theory, psychology, existentialism and postmodernism, public education, Communism—all these ideas are intended to put man at a further remove from God.

During the Renaissance, thinkers and artists decided that if man was going to make himself great, he'd have to replicate the glory of the Classical Era, with its enduring artifacts and intellectual produce. Enlightenment thinkers took this one step further, insisting that man could only know what he could deduce using reason alone, and consequently amassing knowledge in order to have a more thorough basis for such reasonable inquiry.

Since then, philosophers and scientists have devoted themselves to interpreting the facts from a purely human perspective, creating a picture of the universe that is mechanistic and godless. Meaning is dead, God is dead, and hope is dead, but the Enlightenment ideal of human progress (repackaged as Darwinian naturalism) is alive and well, the phantom idol of countless millions.

Even a brief survey of the last century would seem to demolish the possibility of any such idea, but it continues to inform nearly every element of our culture, from pop music to public policy debates. Atrocities like the Holocaust, racism in America, abortion, and totalitarian rule in Asian countries are reinterpreted or explained away to fit the overarching rubrik of sustained forward progress.

Christians understand things a bit differently. We aren't pessimists by any means, but we aren't blind optimists, either. God's plan entails one thing: His ultimate glory, and for those who believe His promises and trust Him for salvation, that's the most hopeful doctrine conceivable. At the same time, we also understand that man's efforts cannot be responsible for whatever good befalls us, that "progress" is only a gift of the Most High, and that only through the Holy Spirit is evil overcome by good.

The modern world is increasingly secular. Even in the Church, men and women stray from biblical truth in favor of appealing arguments on behalf of man, substituting a Christ-centered Gospel with one that is primarily focused on mankind and our individual salvation. We must counter these attitudes with God's truth, but we can only do so with an understanding of where those ideas come from and why they've taken root. A thorough study of modern history can and will provide those answers, and teach us how to stand firm in the truth we hold dear.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and 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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192 Items found Print
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg
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Abigail Adams
by Natalie S. Bober
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Abraham Lincoln
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
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Abraham Lincoln
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
75th Anniversary Edition from Beautiful Feet Books
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1940 Caldecott Medal winner
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Along Came Galileo
by Jeanne Bendick
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America's Paul Revere
by Esther Forbes
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And the Word Came With Power
by Joanne Shetler, Patricia Purvis
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Anne Frank's Story
by Carol Ann Lee
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Around the World in a Hundred Years
by Jean Fritz
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Artist of the Reformation
by Joyce McPherson
from Greenleaf Press
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Benazir Bhutto
by Englar, Mary
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Benjamin Franklin
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
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Benjamin Franklin
Heroes of History
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$11.99
Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin
by Marguerite Henry & Wesley Dennis
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
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$7.99
Biography of James A. Garfield
Sons of Liberty Series
by William Thayer
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$9.50 (1 in stock)
Black Heroes of the American Revolution
by Burke Davis
1992 Odyssey Classics edition from Clarion Books
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Boy on the Wooden Box
by Leon Leyson
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Christopher Award
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Boy's War
by David Michell
1st edition from OMF
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis
from Yearling
Realistic Fiction for 4th-6th grade
2000 Newbery Medal winner
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Buffalo Bill
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Beautiful Feet Books
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Candy Bomber
by Michael O. Tunnell
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$9.95
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
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Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
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$9.99
Chasing Space for Young Readers
by Leland Melvin
from Amistad Press
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$7.99
Christopher Columbus
Sowers Series
by Bennie Rhodes
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$8.99 $5.00 (3 in stock)
Clara Barton
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from Emerald Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
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$11.99
Come On, Seabiscuit!
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 5th-9th grade
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$14.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Courage to Run
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
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$8.99
Daniel Boone
by Daniel Boone
from Applewood Books
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Daniel Boone
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
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$11.99
Davy Crockett
by David Crockett
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Davy Crockett
Heroes of History
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$11.99
Davy Crockett, Young Pioneer
by Laurence Santrey
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Did It Take Creativity to Find Relativity, Albert Einstein?
by Gilda Berger, Melvin & Gilda Berger, Melvin Berger
from Scholastic Inc.
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Did You Invent The Phone All Alone, Alexander Graham Bell?
by Gilda Berger, Melvin Berger
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer
by Geoff Benge, Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
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$11.99
Discovery of the Americas
by Betsy & Giulio Maestro
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$9.99
Douglas MacArthur
Heroes of History
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Douglas Macarthur: American Hero
Book Report Biographies
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Duke Ellington
by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney
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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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$6.99
Elisabeth Elliot
by Geoff Benge, Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
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Encounter
by Jane Yolen
1st edition from Voyager Paperbacks
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Eric the Red & Leif the Lucky
by Barbara Schiller
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Ernest Shackleton
by Geoff & Janet Benge
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Explorers News
The History News
by Michael Johnstone
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Explorers Who Got Lost
by Diane Dreher
from Tor Classic
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Explorers Who Got Lost
by Diane Sansevere-Dreher, Illustrated by Ed Renfro
from Starscape
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Father to Nobody's Children
by David E. Fessenden
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Florence Nightingale
Sowers Series
by David Collins
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For God and Country
by John Riddle
from Barbour Publishing
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Forty-Acre Swindle
TrailBlazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
from Bethany House
for 3rd-7th grade
in Trailblazer Books (Location: SER-TRAIL)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Forty-Acre Swindle
TrailBlazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
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$8.99
Francis Asbury
by Geoff Benge, Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biographies for 4th-7th grade
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$11.99
Francis Scott Key
Sowers Series
by David Collins
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Frederick Douglass: The Right to Dignity
from Emerald Books
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$11.99
Freedom Walkers
by Russell Freedman
from Holiday House
for 4th-6th grade
2007 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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$14.99
Freedom's Pen
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
New Edition from Moody Press
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$7.99
George vs. George
by Rosalyn Schanzer
Reprint from National Geographic
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$6.95
George Washington
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Beautiful Feet Books
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George Washington
by James Giblin & Michael Dooling
from Scholastic Inc.
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
George Washington
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
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$11.99
George Washington
Sterling Point Books
by Sterling North
from Sterling Publishing Co.
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
George Washington
by Cheryl Harness
from National Geographic
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$8.99
Gettysburg Address in Translation
by Kay M., Olson
from Capstone Press
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$7.95
Go Free or Die
by Jeri Ferris
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
Biography for 4th-6th grade
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$9.99
Gold Cadillac
by Mildred D. Taylor
from Scholastic Inc.
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Gold Cadillac
by Mildred D. Taylor
Reprint from Puffin Books
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Hallelujah Lass
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
New Edition from Moody Press
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$7.99
Harriet Tubman
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from Emerald Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
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$11.99
Harriet Tubman
by Frances T. Humphreville
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Heart Strangely Warmed
by Louise A. Vernon
from Herald Press
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Hidden Figures: Young Reader's Edition
from Harper
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$9.99
History of US Book 7
History of US Book 7
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$15.95 $11.00 (2 in stock)
Ice Bound
by Jerri Nielsen, Mary Anne Vollers
from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln
If You Were There
by Ann McGovern
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King
by Ellen Levine
Updated from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
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$4.50 (2 in stock)
In Their Own Words: Christopher Columbus
by Peter & Connie Roop
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (2 in stock)
Isobel Kuhn
by Geoff Benge, Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-6th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
J. Pierpont Morgan
by Michael Burgan
1st edition from Compass Point Books
for 4th-7th grade
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Jed Smith
by Frank Latham
from Christian Liberty Press
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Jesse Jackson
by Pat McKissack
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John Flynn
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
John Paul Jones
Sterling Point Books
by Armstrong Sperry
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in War of 1812 (Location: HISA-19WET)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Journey and Ordeal of Cabeza de Vaca
Dover editions
by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
from Dover Publications
for 5th-Adult
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$10.95
Juan Ponce de Leon
by Louise Chipley Slavicek
1st edition from Chelsea House Publishing
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Juliette Low, Girl Scout Founder
by Helen Boyd Higgins
from Patria Press, Inc.
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Kid's Guide to African American History
by Nancy I. Sanders
from Chicago Review Press
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography
by William Anderson
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$9.99
Leonardo da Vinci
by Diane Stanley
from HarperCollins
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
1997 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
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$11.99
Let the Circle Be Unbroken
by Mildred R. Taylor
Reissue from Puffin Books
Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$9.99
Life and Death of Adolf Hitler
by James Cross Giblin
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 5th-8th grade
2003 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
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$11.99
Life of Washington
by Josephine Pollard
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 3rd-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.95 $7.50 (1 in stock)
Lincoln: A Photobiography
by Russell Freedman
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1988 Newbery Medal winner
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$12.99 $7.50 (5 in stock)
Listen for the Whippoorwill
Trailblazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
from Castle Rock Creative
for 3rd-7th grade
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$8.99
Listening to Crickets
by Candice F. Ransom
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 3rd-5th grade
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$6.00 (4 in stock)
Lost City
by Ted Lewin
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 3rd-7th grade
in Latin America (Location: HISMC-LAT)
$8.99
Lost Names
by Richard E. Kim
2nd edition from University of California Press
for 3rd-5th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$23.95
Louis Braille
by Margaret Davidson
from Scholastic Inc.
Biography for 2nd-5th grade
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$6.99 $3.50 (3 in stock)
Louis Braille
by Margaret Davidson
from Scholastic Inc.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$1.50 (1 in stock)
Make Way for Sam Houston
by Jean Fritz
from Penguin Putnam
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.99
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