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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266 Items found Print
Active Filters: 4th grade (Ages 9-10), Hardcover, Used Books & Materials
1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving
by Catherine O'Neill Grace
from National Geographic
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
A is for Abigail
by Lynne Cheney
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Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance
by Frances Cavanah
from Rand McNally
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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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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All-of-a-Kind Family
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 Series #4
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America is Born
A History for Peter #1
by Gerald W. Johnson (iilustrations by Leonard Everett Fisher)
from William Morrow & Company
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America's Ethan Allen
by Stewart H. Holbrook; illustrated by Lynd Ward
9th printing from Houghton Mifflin
Picture Book Biography for 4th-6th grade
1950 Caldecott Honor Book
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Appomattox
by Burke Davis
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Behave Yourself, Bethany Brant
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Big Annie of Calumet
by Jerry Stanley
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Big Golden Book of Christopher Columbus and Other Early Adventurers
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Blizzard!
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2001 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
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Blockade Runners and Ironclads
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Brothers in Hope
by Mary Williams, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
from Lee & Low Books
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2006 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award
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Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis
from Delacorte Press
Realistic Fiction for 4th-6th grade
2000 Newbery Medal winner
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Buffalo Bill
by Frank L. Beals, illustrated by Jack Merryweather
1959 Edition from Wheeler Publishing, Inc.
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Bull Run
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Historical Fiction for 4th-7th grade
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By the Shores of Silver Lake
Little House Series #5
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
1940 Newbery Honor Book
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Little House Series #5
by Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams
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1940 Newbery Honor Book
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Cabin Boy to Advent Crusader
by Virgil Robinson, illustrated by Harry Baerg
from Southern Publishing Association
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Caleb's Choice
from Lodestar Books
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California Gold Days
by Helen Bauer
1961 Printing from California State Department of Education
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1958 2nd Printing from Viking Press
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Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London
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Child Star
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Children of the Civil War
Picture the American Past
by Candice F. Ransom
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Picture the American Past
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Children of the Wild West
by Russell Freedman
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China's Long March
by Jean Fritz
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Christopher Columbus
Sowers Biographies
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Christopher Columbus and His Brothers
by Amy Hogeboom
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Colonial Governor
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Columbus: The Triumphant Failure
by Oliver Postgate & Naomi Linnell
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Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun
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1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
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Conrad Elroy, Powder Monkey
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Cowboys and Cattle Ranching
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Crossing
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Daily Life in the Pilgrim Colony 1636
by Paul Erickson
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Davy Crockett
by George Edward Stanley
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DK Atlas of Exploration
by Anita Ganeri, Andrea MIlls
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DK Eyewitness: Explorer
by Rupert Matthews
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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)
Dragon Tales
by Celia R. Brines
3rd edition from Pacific Press
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Dreams in the Golden Country
Dear America
by Kathryn Lasky
from Scholastic Inc.
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$6.00 (2 in stock)
Duke Ellington
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
1st edition from Hyperion/Madison Press
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1999 Caldecott Honor Book
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Eating the Plates
by Lucille Recht Penner
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
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Emancipation Proclomation
by Tonya Bolden
from Abrams Books for Young Readers
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Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
by Jacqueline Kelly
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Exploration and Conquest
by Betsy & Giulio Maestro
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
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Exploration and Conquest
by Betsy & Giulio Maestro
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
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Facing West
by Kathleen V. Kudlinski
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Far Frontier
by William O. Steele; illustrated by Paul Galdone
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Fields of Fury
by James M. McPherson
from Atheneum
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First Four Years
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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First Four Years (Pictorial Cover)
by Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams
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Flaming Arrows
by William O. Steele, Illustrated by Paul Galdone
1st edition from Harcourt
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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Flight: A Panorama of Aviation
by Melvin B. Zisfein; illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker
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Follow the Drinking Gourd
by Jeanette Winter
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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$7.50 (2 in stock)
Food and Recipes of Westward Expansion
Cooking Throughout American History
by George Erdosh
1st edition from PowerKids Press
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
For You They Signed
by Marilyn Boyer
from Master Books
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$27.99 $18.00 (1 in stock)
Forging Freedom
by Hudson Talbott
from Putnam Juvenile
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Fortune's Bones
by Marilyn Nelson, notes and annotations by Pamela Espeland
from Front Street
for 4th-8th grade
2005 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Forward March to Freedom
by Barbara Kay Greenleaf
from Grosset & Dunlap
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
Francisco Pizarro and the Conquest of the Inca
by Gina DeAngelis
from Chelsea House Publishing
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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 Colonies to Country with George Washington - Book Only
My American Journey
by Deborah Hedstrom
from Multnomah Books
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
From Log Cabin to White House with Abraham Lincoln - Set
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From Slave Ship to Freedom Road
by Julius Lester
from Dial Books for Young Readers
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George Washington
by Heather Lehr Wagner
from Chelsea House Publishing
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Going West
by Jean Van Leeuwen, illustrated by Thomas Allen
from Dial Books for Young Readers
Historical fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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Good Ol' Cowboy Stories
by Jack Terry
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Great Discoveries and Amazing Adventures
by Claire Llewellyn
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Great Explorers
by Joyce Grosseck & Elizabeth Attwood
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Great Little Madison
by Jean Fritz
1st edition from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 4th-6th grade
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$9.00 (2 in stock)
Gristmill
Historic Communities
by Bobbie Kalman
from Crabtree Publishing
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Haym Salomon: Liberty's Son
by Shirley Milgrim, illustrated by Richard Fish
from Jewish Publication Society
for 4th-8th grade
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Home Crafts (Historic Communities)
by Bobbie Kalman
from Crabtree Publishing
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$5.50 (1 in stock)
Homesick: My Own Story
by Jean Fritz
from Penguin Putnam
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning
by Rosalyn Schanzer
from HarperCollins
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
How I Became an American
by Karin Gundisch
from Cricket Books
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
How Our Nation Began
Christian Social History Series
by Don Sharkey, Sister Margaret, and Rt. Rev. Msgr. Philip J. Furlong
from W. H. Sadlier
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Hudson Taylor
by Ben Alex,
from Victor Books
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Ice Story
by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
1st edition from Clarion Books
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
If You Sailed On the Mayflower
If You Were There
by Ann McGovern, illustrated by J.B. Handlesman
from Four Winds Press
Non-Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
If You Were There in 1492
by Barbara Brenner
1st ed from Bradbury Press
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Immigrants to America
History of America
by Linda Thompson
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark
by Rhoda Blumberg
1st edition from HarperCollins
Historical Reference for 4th-6th grade
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$8.00 (2 in stock)
Inventing the Future
by David Edward Sloane, Marfe Ferguson Delano
from National Geographic
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Jack Wade, Fighter for Liberty
A Doubleday Signal Book
by Irving Werstein, illustrated by Albert Orbaan
from Doubleday & Company
for 4th-8th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
January's Sparrow
by Patricia Polacco
from Philomel Books
for 4th-8th grade
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$16.00 (1 in stock)
Jeb Stuart
Historical American Biographies
by Lynda Pflueger
from Enslow
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
John Hancock
Weekly Reader Heroes of the Revolution
by Susan & John Lee, illustrated by Chuck Mitchell
from Children's Press
for 2nd-6th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
John Paul Jones
by Norma Jean Lutz
from Chelsea House Publishing
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Johnny Tremain
by Esther Forbes, illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Houghton Mifflin
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in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Joke's on George
by Michael O. Tunnell; illustrated by Kathy Osborn
from Tambourine Books
for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Journal of James Edmond Pease
My Name is America
by Jim Murphy
from Scholastic Inc.
Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th Grade
in Dear America Books (Location: SER-DEAR)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
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