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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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10,000 Days of Thunder
by Philip Caputo
1st edition from Atheneum
for 5th-10th grade
in Vietnam War (1957-1975) (Location: HISA-20VIE)
13 Colonies: Georgia
by Roberta Wiener and James R. Arnold
from Raintree
for 6th-8th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
1812: The War and the World
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
20 Plays for U. S. History Classes
by Dean R. Bowman
Revised from Walch Publishing
for 7th-9th grade
in Theater, Drama & Film (Location: ELE-THEAT)
2000 Years of Space Travel
by Russell Freedman
from Holiday House
for 7th-10th grade
in History of Science & Mathematics (Location: SCI-HIS)
20th Century in America Lap-Pak
from Home School in the Woods
for 3rd-8th grade
in Hands-On History Activity-Paks (Location: HISRF-HOH)
20th Century Wars
by Robert W. Smith
for 5th-12th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation
by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon
from Hill and Wang
for 6th-12th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
Abe Lincoln
Landmark Series
by Sterling North
from Random House
Biography for 5th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg
from Graphia
Biography for 5th-8th grade
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg, illustrated by James Daugherty
from Harcourt, Brace & Company
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Abraham Lincoln & Frederick Douglass
by Russell Freedman
from Clarion Books
for 7th-12th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
Abraham Lincoln in Peace and War
by Earl Schenck Miers
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Abraham Lincoln's World
by Genevieve Foster, expanded by Joanna Foster
from Beautiful Feet Books
Historical Non-fiction for 7th-10th grade
1945 Newbery Honor Book
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$21.95
Abraham Lincoln's World (pictorial hardcover)
by Genevieve Foster
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Historical Non-fiction for 7th-10th grade
1945 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Across America on an Emigrant Train
by Jim Murphy
from Sandpiper Books
for 5th-8th grade
1994 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
in Immigration & Emigration (Location: HISA-20IM)
$10.95
Across Five Aprils
by Irene Hunt
from Berkley Books
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
1965 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Across Five Aprils
by Irene Hunt
from Berkley Books
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
1965 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
Hornblower Series #11
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical fiction for 8th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.99 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Admiral Richard Byrd
Sterling Point Books
by Paul Rink
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Historical non-fiction for 5th-9th grade
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
Adventures in the Wilderness
by Rutherford Hayes Platt
from Troll Associates
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Puffin Classics
by Mark Twain
from Puffin Books
for 6th-10th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$8.99
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Mark Twain
from Reader's Digest
Realistic Fiction for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Sterling Classics
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$14.95
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Children's Classics
by Mark Twain, Illustrated by Peter Fiore
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 5th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Perrine
Windermere Readers #10
by Hector Malot, translated by Gil Meynier, adapted by Edith Heal
1954 edition from Rand McNally
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Perrine
Windermere Series 4
by Hector Malot, translated by Gil Meynier, adapted by Edith Heal
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain
from International Collectors Library
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Norman Rockwell
from Heritage Press
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Puffin Classics
by Mark Twain
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Worth Brehm
from Harper & Brothers
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventurous Life of Winston Churchill
by Geoffrey Bocca
from Julian Messner
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
After the Dancing Days
by Margaret I. Rostkowski
from HarperTrophy
for 7th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.99 $4.00 (2 in stock)
After the War
by Carol Matas
from Simon Pulse
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Age of Fighting Sail
by C. S. Forester
from Chapman Billies, Inc
American Naval History for 8th-Adult
in War of 1812 (Location: HISA-19WET)
Age of Fighting Sail
by C. S. Forester
1st edition from Doubleday & Company
American Naval History for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Ain't Burned All the Bright
by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Jason Griffin
from Atheneum
for 5th-Adult
2023 Caldecott Honor Book
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$19.99
Air Raid - Pearl Harbor!
by Theodore Taylor
from Harcourt
Historical Non-Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in WWII: Pacific Theater (Location: HISA-20WW2P)
$8.99
Air War Against Hitler's Germany
by Stephen W. Sears
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 7th-10th grade
2005 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99
Alamo
Perspectives on History Series
by Mary Dodson Wade, editor
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Mexican-American War (Location: HISA-19TEX)
Alamo All Stars
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #6
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 3rd-8th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$14.99
Alaska Gold Rush
Landmark #92
by May McNeer
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage & Collectible (Location: VIN-COL)
Albert Schweitzer
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Album of the Civil War
by William Loren Katz
from Franklin Watts
for 7th-Adult
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr
Landmark #85
by Russel & Anna Crouse
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
All Aboard for Freedom
by Marie McSwigan, illustrated by E. Harper Johnson, with an introduction by Jan Papanek
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$30.00 (1 in stock)
All About Rockets and Space Flight
All About Books #50
by Harold Goodwin
for 3rd-8th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About the Arctic and Antarctic
All About Books #20
by Armstrong Sperry
from Random House
for 3rd-8th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All He Knew
by Helen Frost
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 7th-Adult
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$17.99
All That Glitters
Perspectives on History Series
by Phyllis Raybin Emert
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
in California State History (Location: HISA-19CGR)
All Through the Ages
by Christine Miller
3rd edition from Nothing New Press
World History Reference for All grades
in World History Reference (Location: HISW-REF)
Along Came Galileo
by Jeanne Bendick
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.95
Amelia Earhart
Lives to Remember
by Burke Davis
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
America and Vietnam
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Historical Non-Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Vietnam War (1957-1975) (Location: HISA-20VIE)
$13.95
America During Four Wars
by Earl Schenck Miers & Felix Sutton
from Grosset & Dunlap
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
America Grows Up
A History for Peter #2
by Gerald W. Johnson, illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher
from William Morrow & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
America in the 1900s and 1910s
Decades of American History
by Jim Callan
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
America in the 1930s
Decades of American History
by Jim Callan
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$35.00 (1 in stock)
America in the 1970s
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
America in the 1990s
by George Ochoa
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
America's First World War
Landmark #77
by Henry Castor
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
America's Heroes
from SP, L.L.C.
for 6th-Adult
in War on Terror (Location: HISA-21WT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
American Fairy Tales
1st edition from Hyperion Books for Children
for 3rd-Adult
American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
by Robert M. Utley, Wilcomb E. Washburn
Revised from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-Adult
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
American Heroes of the 20th Century
Landmark Giant #14
by Harold & Doris Faber
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in Landmark Giants (Location: VIN-LAN)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
American Plague
by Jim Murphy
from Clarion Books
for 4th-8th grade
2004 Newbery Honor Book, 2004 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner, NCTE Orbi Pictus Award
in New Nation (1783-1800) (Location: HISA-18NN)
$21.99
American Revolution
Landmark Series
by Bruce Bliven
from Random House
Historical Non-fiction for 5th-8th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$6.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
American Revolution
Landmark #83
by Bruce Bliven, Jr.
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
American Waterways: Canal Days
by Jeanne Munn Bracken, ed.
from History Compass
for 7th-12th grade
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$5.50 (1 in stock)
Americans in Space
by John Dille
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Americans Into Orbit
Landmark #101
by Gene Gurney
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage & Collectible (Location: VIN-COL)
Americans to the Moon
Landmark Giant #20
by Gene Gurney
from Random House
for 4th-8th grade
in Landmark Giants (Location: VIN-LAN)
Amistad
by Helen Kromer
from The Pilgrim Press
for 7th-Adult
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
Amistad Slave Revolt and American Abolition
by Karen Zeinert
from Linnet Books
for 7th-10th grade
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom
by Walter Dean Myers
from Puffin Books
for 5th-8th grade
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Amos Fortune, Free Man
by Elizabeth Yates, illustrated by Nora S. Unwin
from Puffin Books
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
1951 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99
And the Word Came With Power
by Joanne Shetler, Patricia Purvis
from Wycliffe Bible Translators
for 2nd-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.50 (2 in stock)
Andrew Carnegie
from Kingston House
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Andrew Carnegie and the Age of Steel
Landmark #80
by Katherine B. Shippen
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Andrew Jackson: Soldier and Statesman
by Ralph K. Andrist
from Harper & Row
for 5th-8th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Anne Bradstreet
by Faith Cook
from Evangelical Press
for 6th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
by Ruud van der Rol & Rian Verhoeven
from Puffin Books
for 7th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
by Ruud van der Rol & Rian Verhoeven
from Scholastic Inc.
for 6th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank, translated by B. M. Mooyaart-Doubleday with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt
Book Club Edition from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Annotated Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, edited by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
Annotated from W. W. Norton and Co.
Realistic Fiction for 4th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$35.00
Antarctica: Escape from Disaster
by Peter Lerangis
from Scholastic Reference
for 4th-8th grade
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Antonin Dvorak
Julian Messner Shelf of Biographies
by Clair Lee Purdy, illustrated by Edgard Cirlin
from Julian Messner
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Apollo on the Moon
by Henry S. F. Cooper, Jr.
from Dial Press
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Architecture
Perspectives on History Series
by Pat Perrin
from History Compass
for 6th-9th grade
in Architecture and Sculpture (Location: ELE-ARC)
$7.95
Ark, The
by Margot Benary-Isbert
2021 Revision from Purple House Press
for 3rd-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$23.00
Armourer's House
by Rosemary Sutcliff, illustrated by C. Walter Hodges
from Oxford University
England, 1500s for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Around the World in Eighty Days
Whole Story Series
by Jules Verne, illustrated by Jame's Prunier
from Viking Press
Adventure for 6th-10th grade
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
Art of Keeping Cool
by Janet Taylor Lisle
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
2001 Scott O'Dell Award
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$2.50 (2 in stock)
Artist of the Reformation
by Joyce McPherson
from Greenleaf Press
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.95
Ashes
Seeds of America #3
by Laurie Halse Anderson
from Atheneum
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
At Aboukir and Acre
by G. A. Henty
from Preston Speed
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th Grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
At Aboukir and Acre
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th Grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
At Aboukir and Acre
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
At Her Majesty's Request
by Walter Dean Myers
from Scholastic Inc.
Biography for 5th-8th grade
2000 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
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