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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1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving
by Catherine O'Neill Grace
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20th Century Wars
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Abe Lincoln
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Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg, illustrated by James Daugherty
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Across America
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Adventures of Perrine
Windermere Readers #10
by Hector Malot, translated by Gil Meynier, adapted by Edith Heal
1954 edition from Rand McNally
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Adventures with the Santa Fe Trail
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After the War
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Air Raid - Pearl Harbor!
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Albert Einstein: Young Thinker
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All Aboard for Freedom
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All-of-a-Kind Family Series #1
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Helen John
from Follett
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All-of-a-Kind Family
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #1
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Helen John
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by Sydney Taylor; illustrated by Mary Stevens
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Almost Home
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America At War: Korean War
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America Grows Up
A History for Peter #2
by Gerald W. Johnson
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America In Korean War
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America in the 1900s and 1910s
Decades of American History
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America in the 1930s
Decades of American History
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America in the Time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
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America in the Time of Lewis and Clark
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America is Born
A History for Peter #1
by Gerald W. Johnson (iilustrations by Leonard Everett Fisher)
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America's Ethan Allen
by Stewart H. Holbrook; illustrated by Lynd Ward
9th printing from Houghton Mifflin
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1950 Caldecott Honor Book
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American Heroes of the 20th Century
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American Revolution
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American Revolution
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Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom
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And the Word Came With Power
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Andie's Moon
Historical House: 1969
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Angel on the Square
by Gloria Whelan
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Anna and the King (adapted)
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Anne Frank's Story
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Anne of Jamestown
by Anne Price-Hardister, illustrated by Ruby Gardner
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Antarctica: Escape from Disaster
by Peter Lerangis
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Appomattox
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Around the World in a Hundred Years
by Jean Fritz
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Arrow Over the Door
by Joseph Bruchac
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Art for Children: Renaissance
Art for Children
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Art Appreciation for 4th-6th grade
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Art of Keeping Cool
by Janet Taylor Lisle
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2001 Scott O'Dell Award
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Atlas of North American Exploration
by Glyndwr Williams, William H. Goetzmann
Oklahoma Paperbacks Ed from University of Oklahoma Press
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Awakening of Europe
Story of the World Series #3
by M. B. Synge
from Yesterday's Classics
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Ballad of Lucy Whipple
by Karen Cushman
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Bat 6
by Virginia Euwer Wolff
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Battle Heroes: Voices from Afghanistan
by Allan Zullo
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Battle of the Little Bighorn
by Mark Henckel
1st edition from Falcon Press Publishing
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Battle of the Little Bighorn
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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Battle of Valcour Bay
Triangle Histories: The Revolutionary War
by Scott Ingram
from Blackbirch Press
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Before the Gold Rush
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Behave Yourself, Bethany Brant
by Patricia Beatty
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Behind Enemy Lines
Sterling Point Books
by H.R. DeMallie
from Sterling Publishing Co.
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Behind the Bedroom Wall
by Laura E. Williams
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Behind the Blue and Gray
by Delia Ray
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Behind the Blue and Gray
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Ben and Me
by Robert Lawson
from Little, Brown & Company
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Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia
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Benazir Bhutto
by Englar, Mary
1st edition from Compass Point Books
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Benjamin Franklin: Young Printer
by Augusta Stevenson
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Best Bad Thing
by Yoshiko Uchida
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Best Little Stories from World War II
by C. Brian Kelly
1996 Printing from Montpelier Publishing
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Betsy and the Emperor
by Staton Rabin
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Big Annie of Calumet
by Jerry Stanley
1st edition
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Big Annie of Calumet
by Jerry Stanley
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Big Book of the Civil War
by Joanne Mattern
from Courage Books
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$7.00 (1 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)
Big Golden Book of the Wild West
by Gina Ingoglia, illustrated by Gene Biggs
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Bill of Rights
by Lucia Raatma
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Billy Yank - Coloring Book
by Alan Archambault
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Biography of James A. Garfield
Sons of Liberty Series
by William Thayer
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$9.50 (1 in stock)
Birchbark House
by Louise Erdrich
1st edition from Scholastic Inc.
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Bite of the Gold Bug
by Barthe DeClements
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Black Courage
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Black Heroes of the American Revolution
by Burke Davis
1992 Odyssey Classics edition from Clarion Books
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Blackthorn Winter
Monroe Family Chronicles #1
by Doug Wilson
from Veritas Press
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Blazing West: The Journal of Augustus Pelletier
by Kathryn Lasky
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Blizzard!
by Jim Murphy
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2001 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
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$8.00 (2 in stock)
Blockade Runners and Ironclads
by Wallace B. Black
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Bold Journey
by Charles Bohner
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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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Boston Jane
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Bound for America
Great Journeys
by Milton Meltzer
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Boy and the Samurai
by Erik Christian Haugaard
Reissue from HMH Books for Young Readers
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Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
from Corona Publishing Co.
Historical fiction for 4th-9th grade
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Boy's War
by David Michell
1st edition from OMF
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Boys' War
by Jim Murphy
from Clarion Books
Historical Non-fiction for 5th-8th grade
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Boys' War
by Jim Murphy
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis
from Yearling
Realistic Fiction for 4th-6th grade
2000 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99 $5.00 (3 in stock)
Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis
from Delacorte Press
Realistic Fiction for 4th-6th grade
2000 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis
from Laurel-Leaf Books
Realistic Fiction for 4th-6th grade
2000 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$3.50 (2 in stock)
Buffalo Bill
by Frank L. Beals, illustrated by Jack Merryweather
1959 Edition from Wheeler Publishing, Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Buffalo Bill: Frontier Daredevil
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Meryl Stevenson
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
$7.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Bull Run
by Paul Fleischman
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.99 $3.50 (3 in stock)
Bull Run
by Paul Fleischman, David Frampton (Woodcuts)
2nd edition from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
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