American State History

In many ways, the United States are becoming more homogeneous than they were fifty or a hundred years ago. The rise of mass technology, communication, and entertainment has meant more people get the same information through the same media, resulting in a sameness among people and places not possible before.

The old days were much different. For one thing, until recently a large percentage of the U.S. population were immigrants, bringing with them the culture and ethnic traditions of their home countries. Italians, Chinese, Africans, Dutch, Puerto Ricans, Irish, Jews, Scandinavians—they all tended to settle together, and were thus able to preserve what they knew.

Communication was also far less unifying. Correspondence was much more local, typically, and interactions between regions were limited, usually to word-of-mouth and newspapers. In such circumstances, different parts of the country often seemed almost like different countries altogether; this was especially true in places that didn't become part of the Union until relatively late in the nation's history.

Each state has a history of its own, and each one is uniquely fascinating. Even where there seems to be considerable overlap, the differences are very real, such as the difference between the California Gold Rush and the Alaska Gold Rush. An appreciation of the diversity of our nation is almost always preceded by a knowledge of the individual states and regions within it.

Some states naturally have more written about them than others, like Texas, which before it was a U.S. state was an autonomous nation. Nevertheless, we're working on building a diverse collection, though we do have a slight bias for books about the Pacific Northwest. We also have a bias for books from a Christian perspective, though we carry both Christian and secular titles.

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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54 Items found Print
Active Filters: 4th grade (Ages 9-10), Hardcover
Adventure to Home
by Robert Wells, illustrated by Mary Stevens
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-5th grade
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
Brer Rabbit and His Tricks
by Ennis Rees; illustrated by Edward Gorey
from Young Scott Books
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
California Fairy Tales
Travel and Adventure Library for Young Folks
by Monica Shannon, illustrated by C. E. Millard
from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
California Gold Days
by Helen Bauer
1961 Printing from California State Department of Education
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Caravan to Oregon
by Herbert E. Arntson
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Carmen of the Golden Coast
Children of America Stories
by Madeline Brandeis
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 1st-4th grade
Chippewa Indians
Sonia Bleeker's Tribes of the Americas
by Sonia Bleeker, illustrated by Patricia Boodell
1968 Printing from William Morrow & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Circle of Seasons
by Ann Nolan Clark; illustrated by W. T. Mars
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Columbia River
by Stewart H. Holbrook
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 4th-8th grade
in Pacific States (Location: HISV-PNW)
Columbia, The
Rivers of America
by Stewart H. Holbrook
from Rinehart & Company, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Pacific States (Location: HISV-PNW)
Eagle Drums
by Nasugraq Rainey Hopson
from Running Press
for 4th-6th grade
2024 Newberry Honor Book
Facing West
by Kathleen V. Kudlinski
for 4th-7th grade
in Oregon Trail (Location: HISA-19OR)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Fishermen
by Daniel Jacobson, illustrated by Richard Cuffari
from Franklin Watts
for 4th-8th grade
in Native Americans (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
For Ma and Pa
by Wilma Pitchford Hays, illustrated by Peter Burchard
from Coward McCann
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Gold in California
North Star Books #2
by Paul I. Wellman, illustrated by Lorence F. Bjorklund
from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Gold Rush
by May McNeer, illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Here Rolled the Covered Wagons
by Albert Salisbury
from Superior Publishing Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest
by Derek Hayes
First Edition from Sasquatch Books
for 4th-Adult
in Pacific States (Location: HISV-PNW)
How to Get Rich in the California Gold Rush
by Tod Olson & Scott Allred
from National Geographic
for 3rd-8th grade
in California State History (Location: HISA-19CGR)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Islands of Hawai'i
from Hawaii Preparatory Academy
for 4th-Adult
in Pacific States (Location: HISV-PNW)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Jessie Benton Fremont
North Star Books #32
by Marguerite Higgins, illustrated by Bea Holmes
from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Joe Meek
by Shannon Garst
from Julian Messner
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Kit Carson
A Discovery Book
by Nardi Reeder Campion, illustrated by Shannon Stirnweis
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Little John of New England
Children of America Stories
by Madeline Brandeis
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 1st-4th grade
Long Ago in Oregon
by Claudia Lewis, illustrated by Joel Fontaine
from Harper & Row
for Kindergarten-5th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Lotta Crabtree
by Lois V. Harris
from Pelican Publishing Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Lucretia Ann on the Oregon Trail
by Ruth Gipson Plowhead
from Caxton Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Make Way for Sam Houston
by Jean Fritz; illustrated by Elise Primavera
First Edition from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Many Horses
by Elizabeth Lambert Wood, Illustrated by Dean Pollock
from Binford & Mort Publishing
Horse Stories for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Marcus and Narcissa Whitman
A Discovery Book
by Marian T. Place
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Mike and Dick on a Washington Apple Farm
The Farm Life Series
by Joan Liffring
from Follett Publishing Co.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Readers & Textbooks (Location: VIN-READ)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Muslin Town
by Gwendolen Lampshire Hayden and Pearl Clements Gischler
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Narcissa and Marcus Whitman
Heroes of God
by Anne West Williams
from Association Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Navarre of the North
Travel and Adventure Library for Young Folks
by Esther Birdsall Darling, illustrated by Charles Livingston Bull
1930s printing from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Next Wave
Scientists in the Field
by Elizabeth Rusch
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
for 3rd-6th grade
in Energy, Forces & Motion (Location: SCI-PHY)
$9.50 (1 in stock)
Nkwala
by Edith Lambert Sharp, illustrated by William Winter
from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
On to Oregon!
by Honore Morrow
1946 Edition from William Morrow & Company
for 3rd-7th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Orphan for Nebraska
A Guild Book
by Charlene Joy Talbot
from Atheneum
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Pearl Harbor is Burning!
by Kathleen V. Kudlinski, illustrated by Ronald Himler
from Viking Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Picture Book of Oregon
by Bernadine Bailey, illustrated by Kurt Wiese
Revised Edition from Albert Whitman & Company
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Real Book About Alaska
by Samuel Epstein
from Garden City Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Rush for Gold
by Frank L. Beals, illustrated by Jack Merryweather
from California State Department of Education
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$30.00 (1 in stock)
Sam Houston: Boy Chieftain
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Augusta Stevenson
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Sea Hunters
Sonia Bleeker's Tribes of the Americas
by Sonia Bleeker, illustrated by Althea Karr
1962 Printing from William Morrow & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Seeds of Hope
Dear America
by Kristiana Gregory
from Scholastic Inc.
Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th grade
in Dear America Books (Location: SER-DEAR)
Story of Davy Crockett
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #3
by Enid LaMonte Meadowcroft, illustrated by C. B. Falls
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of the Gold at Sutter's Mill
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Johnstown Flood
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Lone Star Republic
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Oregon Trail
Cornerstones of Freedom series
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
The Alamo
by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Holiday House
for 3rd-8th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
Tragic Tale of Narcissa Whitman and a Faithful History of the Oregon Trail
by Cheryl Harness
from National Geographic
for 4th-8th grade
in Oregon Trail (Location: HISA-19OR)
Triple-Threat Patrol
Junior Literary Guild
by Kenneth Gilbert, illustrated by Ernest Norling
from Henry Holt and Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Wild Flowers of the Pacific Coast
by Leslie L. Haskin
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 4th-Adult
in Clearance: Science & Health (Location: ZCLE-SCI)