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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204 Items found Print
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Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
Hornblower Series #11
by C. S. Forester
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Admiral of the Ocean Sea
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Adventures of Buffalo Bill
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Adventures of Captain Bonneville
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Klickitat from Binford & Mort Publishing
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Sterling Classics
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Air Forces of the World
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Album of Memories
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Album of the Civil War
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America in the Air War
by Edward Jablonski
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
America's Heroes
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American Heritage History of the American Revolution
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American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
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American Spirit
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Andersonville
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1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
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Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank, translated by B. M. Mooyaart-Doubleday with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt
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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
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Apollo on the Moon
by Henry S. F. Cooper, Jr.
from Dial Press
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Ark, The
by Margot Benary-Isbert
2021 Revision from Purple House Press
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$23.00
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
World's Greatest Literature
by Benjamin Franklin
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Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
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B. Franklin, Printer
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Battle from the Start
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Battle of Austerlitz
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Berliners
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Betsy and Joe
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15th Printing from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
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Beyond Stateliest Marble
Leaders in Action Series
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Black Falcon
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Black Man in America
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Blow Ye Winds Westerly
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Bomb
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2013 Newbery Honor Book, 2013 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
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Bombs and Blessings
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Book of Marvels: Marvels of the Orient
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Boys in the Boat adapted for Young Readers
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By England's Aid
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Call of Duty
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Carry a Big Stick
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Carver: A Life in Poems
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2002 Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Award
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Century
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Chariot in the Sky
Land of the Free Series
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Cheer the Lonesome Traveller
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Chickamauga
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Christopher Columbus
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Civil War Battles
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Civil War: 1861-1865
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Codfish Musket
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1937 Newbery Honor Book
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Colonial American Home Life
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Colonization of the Moon
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Commodore Hornblower
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Constitution of the United States of America
by Founding Fathers
from Applewood Books
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
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$9.95
Countdown
by Deborah Wiles
1st edition from Scholastic Press
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Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank
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Do's and Don'ts of Yesteryear
by Eric Sloane
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Early American Literature
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Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
by James F. Hinkle
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Edwardian Lady
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Emancipation Proclomation
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Empires Lost and Won
by Albert Marrin
1st edition from Atheneum
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Endurance
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Escape from Corregidor
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Explorers, Missionaries, and Trappers
by Kieran Doherty
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Fallout
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2022 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
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$19.99
Fight for Freedom
by Benson Bobrick
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Forgotten Founding Father
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From Flappers to Flivvers...
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George Washington's World (pictorial hardcover)
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George Washington: Soldier and Man
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George Whitefield: Wayfaring Witness
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Gettysburg: Battle & Battlefield
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Give Me Liberty
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Golden Age
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Good Fight
by Stephen Ambrose
from Atheneum
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$27.99
Grapes of Wrath
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Guns Off Cape Ann
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Hammond Atlas of the 20th Century
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Harriet Beecher Stowe
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Hitler Youth
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2006 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
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$21.99
Hitty: Her First Hundred Years
by Rachel Field, illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop
1969 printing from Macmillan
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1930 Newbery Medal Winner
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Horses of Anger
by James Forman
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In Defense of Liberty
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2004 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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Inventing America: The Life of Benjamin Franklin
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Irish Americans
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James Fenimore Cooper
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John Brown Russwurm
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John James Audubon: Painting America's Wildlife
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Kennedy Assassinated! The World Mourns
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1998 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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Lady of Arlington
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Last of the Mohicans
Leatherstocking Tales #2
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Last of the Old West
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Laura Ingalls Wilder: Pioneer Girl
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$39.99
Les Miserables
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$42.00
Lewis & Clark Voyage of Discovery
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Lexington Goes Down
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Liberty or Death
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Liberty: The Statue and the American Dream
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Life & Times of Beethoven
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Life & Times of Napoleon
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Life & Times of Peter the Great
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
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