Chronological History

Sometimes we speak of world history as though it belongs to people. It doesn't—it belongs to God, and though people play prominently within the historical narrative, it always remains under God's auspices and control. The problem with losing the right perspective isn't that we'll get the facts wrong, it's that we'll fail to understand what they mean, what the purpose of past events is, and what we can look forward to.

Human history began all at once in the same place: the Garden of Eden, where God made Adam and Eve as the crown of all Creation. He told them to fill the earth and take dominion of it, and He also told them not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. They ate the fruit anyway, and mankind was removed from paradise and introduced to tension, pain, and resistance.

The story of the world is in many ways simply the story of adversity. For the enemies of God, it's adversity in the form of the failure and futility of purely human endeavor; for God's people, it's the story of fighting for the truth against secular philosophies, fighting for holiness despite the pervasiveness of sin, and fighting for the Gospel in the face of persecution and death.

Jesus Christ is our only hope. He is the Prince of Peace, the defeater of Death, and the King of the Universe, the saver of souls and the punisher of wickedness. His kingdom is the restoration and glorious fulfillment of the paradise from which Adam and Eve were removed, and we work, wait, hope and pray for the quick fulfillment of His will in all things.

This is our framework for history. While it's important to study things like the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and the ancient Near East, it's only important when investigated through the lens of God's ultimate sovereignty and plan. The story of mankind is the story of redemption, and only when we analyze battles, kings, treaties, and catastrophes from God's perspective can we truly make sense of them.

Otherwise, it's all fairly irrelevant and useless. Sure, there's Napoleon's dictum that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it, but a quick survey of the past will show that each successive generation does repeat the sins of their fathers, and that without Christ's real physical life on Earth as a centering point, there's no real cause for optimism or hope of any kind.

Christ's love not only makes the trajectory of history cause for hope; it reveals the truly great moments of the past, events that to the secular eye seem insignificant or even pernicious. We're speaking of the progress of the true Church, of course, and of each soul that God calls and makes His own through the agency of His Holy Spirit. These are the milestones we look for and celebrate.

We carry a lot of world history products. Because it's the story of God's work in the world and our human responses, we believe it's important to know and understand. Not everything we carry is Christian; there are plenty of secular resources here. We encourage you to use whichever ones work best for your situation, but that you do so with a view to understanding the will and work of the One who made history in the first place.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes 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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Active Filters: History for Adults, 11th grade (Ages 16-17)
1066: The Year of the Conquest
by David Howarth
from Penguin Putnam
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$16.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
1776
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$14.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
1776
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Age of Enlightenment
Great Ages of Man
by Peter Gay
from Time-Life Books
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in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Exploration
Great Ages of Man
by John R. Hale
from Time-Life Books
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in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Kings
Great Ages of Man
by Charles Blitzer
from Time-Life Books
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in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Religious Wars
by Richard S. Dunn
2nd edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Air Forces of the World
by Sue Butterworth, editor
from Chartwell Books
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$18.00 (1 in stock)
Album of Memories
by Tom Brokaw
from Random House
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow
from Penguin Random House
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$10.00 (2 in stock)
America's Longest War
by George C. Herring
2nd edition from McGraw-Hill
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
American Caesar
by William Manchester
from Little, Brown & Company
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Ancient America
Great Ages of Man
by Jonathan Norton Leonard
from Time-Life Books
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Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
from World Publishing Company
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1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Army of the Potomac - 3 Volumes
by Bruce Catton
from Doubleday & Company
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Assassins
by Bernard Lewis
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Band of Brothers
by Stephen Ambrose, Foreword by Tom Hanks
25th anniversary from Simon and Schuster
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Battle Cry of Freedom
Oxford History of the United States
by James M. McPherson
from Oxford University
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$24.95
Battle for the Falklands
by Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins
from W. W. Norton and Co.
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Big Burn
by Timothy Egan
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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Birth of the Modern
by Paul Johnson
from HarperCollins
Social Commentary for 10th-Adult
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$12.00
Bitter Woods: The Battle of the Bulge
by John S. D. Eisenhower
1st edition from Da Capo Press
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Brave Men
by Ernie Pyle
from Grosset & Dunlap
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Caesar and Christ
Story of Civilization III
by Will Durant
from Simon and Schuster
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Centennial History of the Civil War - 3 Volumes
by Bruce Catton
from Doubleday & Company
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Chickamauga
by Horace Porter
from Konecky & Konecky
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Christopher Columbus and His Legacy
Opposing Viewpoints Series
by Mary Ellen Jones, Editor
from Greenhaven Press
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
Citizen Soldiers
by Stephen Ambrose
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Non-Fiction for 10th-Adult
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$20.99
Civil War: A History
by Harry Hansen, Introduction by Richard S. Wheeler, Foreword by Gary Gallagher
from New American Library
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War: A Narrative - 3 Volume Set
by Shelby Foote
1st Vintage Books Ed from Vintage Classics
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$88.00
Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance
by John R. Hale
from HarperCollins
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Colonial Period: 1607-1750
American History by Era Volume 2
by Brenda Stalcup (editor)
from Greenhaven Press
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$11.00 (1 in stock)
Confederate War
by Gary W. Gallagher
from Harvard University Press
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Cradle of Civilization
by Samuel Noah Kramer
from Time-Life Books
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Crusades
by Hilaire Belloc
1992 Printing from Tan Books
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Crusades
by Michael Paine
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Daily Life in Johnson's London
by Richard B. Schwartz
1st edition
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Devil in Massachusetts
by Marion L. Starkey
from Anchor Books
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Discoverers
by Daniel J. Boorstin
from Vintage Classics
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$22.00
Distant Mirror
by Barbara W. Tuchman
from Ballantine Books
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in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$20.00
Easy Company Soldier
by Sgt. Don Malarkey
from St. Martin's Press
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$17.50
Egyptian Religion
by Sir Wallis Budge
from G. Bell and Sons, Ltd.
for 9th-12th grade
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Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men
by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel
1st edition from Open Court Publishing
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$6.00 (2 in stock)
Flags of Our Fathers
by James Bradley & Ron Powers
from Bantam Books
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Flyboys
by James Bradley
2nd edition from Back Bay Books
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in World War II (1939-1945) (Location: HISA-20WW2)
Forever Free
by Eric Foner, illustrations edited with commentary by Joshua Brown
from Vintage Classics
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
Founding Brothers
by Joseph J. Ellis
from Vintage Classics
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Gilded Age: A History in Documents
by Janette Thomas Greenwood
from Oxford University
for 9th-12th grade
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Girl in the Picture
by Denise Chong
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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in Vietnam War (1957-1975) (Location: HISA-20VIE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Glory and the Dream - Volume 1
by William Manchester
from Little, Brown & Company
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Glory and the Dream - Volume 2
by William Manchester
from Little, Brown & Company
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Glory Road
by Bruce Catton
from Doubleday & Company
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God's Battalions
by Rodney Stark
Reprint from HarperOne
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$17.99
Grant Moves South
by Bruce Catton
from Back Bay Books
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Great Bridge
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$20.00 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Great Crash: 1929
by John Kenneth Galbraith
from Mariner Books
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in Great Depression (1929-1939) (Location: HISA-20GD)
$16.99
Greater Journey
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Heyday
by Ben Wilson
from Weidenfeld & Nicolson
for 8th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
History of Britain 2
History of Britain Trilogy #2
by Simon Schama
from BBC Books
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
History of Britain 3
History of Britain Trilogy #3
by Simon Schama
from BBC Books
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
History of the English-Speaking Peoples Volume 1
by Winston S. Churchill
from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 7th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
History of the Twentieth Century
by Martin Gilbert
Reprint from William Morrow & Company
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$23.99
In Search of the Dark Ages
by Michael Wood
from Facts On File
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
In the Arena: A Memoir of Victory, Defeat and Renewal
by Richard Nixon
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Johnstown Flood
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Justinian & Theodora
by Robert Browning
from Thames and Hudson
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Kitchener's Mob
by James Norman Hall
from Houghton Mifflin
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in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Labor's Untold Story
by Herbert M. Morais, Richard O. Boyer
3rd edition from United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of Amer
for 9th-Adult
in Industrialization & Organized Labor (Location: HISA-19IND)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Lafayette Flying Corps
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Houghton Mifflin
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in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Lafayette Flying Corps Volume 1
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Leonaur, Ltd.
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$24.00
Lafayette Flying Corps Volume 2
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Leonaur, Ltd.
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$21.00
Last Men Out
by Bob Drury & Tom Clavin
1st Printing from Free Press
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Legacy of John Calvin
The Calvin 500 Series
by David W. Hall
from P&R Publishing
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Lexington Goes Down
by A. A. Hoehling
from Prentice Hall
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Life in Medieval Times
by Marjorie Rowling
Reissue from Perigee Books
for 8th-12th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Lost Executioner
by Nic Dunlop
1st edition from Walker and Company
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Mary Chesnut's Civil War
by C. Vann Woodward, ed.
from Book-of-the-Month Club
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Mathew Brady
by James D. Horan
from Bonanza Books
for 8th-Adult
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Mayflower
by Nathaniel Philbrick
from Penguin Putnam
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Memoirs of the Second World War
by Winston S. Churchill, abridged by Denis Kelly
from HarperCollins
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$25.99
Mirror of War: The Washington Star Reports the Civil War
by John W. Stepp, I. William Hill
from Prentice Hall
for 8th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Mosby's Rangers
by Jeffry D. Wert
from Simon and Schuster
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West
by LeRoy R. Hafen & Harvey L. Carter
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$21.95 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Mummy
by Ernest A. Wallis Budge
New edition from Senate
for 8th-12th grade
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Nothing Like It in the World
by Stephen E. Ambrose
from Simon and Schuster
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
On the Edge
by David D. Lee, David Horowitz, Peter N. Carroll
1st edition
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Our Mountain Hermitage
by Anne Roller Issler
from Stanford University Press
for 8th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades
by Jonathan Riley-Smith
from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Paris: the Turbulent City
by Andre Castelot
from Barrie & Rockliff
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Protestant Reformation
by Lewis W. Spitz
from Concordia Publishing House
Biographies for 10th-Adult
Reformation
Story of Civilization Volume VI
by Will Durant
from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$15.00 (2 in stock)
Reformation
Great Ages of Man
by Edith Simon
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Renaissance
by Paul Johnson
from Modern Library
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$17.00 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Revolutionary Era: 1789-1850
by Charles Breunig & Matthew Levinger
3rd edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Revolutionary Period: 1750-1783
American History by Era Volume 3
by Bruce Thompson (Book Editor)
from Greenhaven Press
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$13.00 (1 in stock)
Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
by William L. Shirer
from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in WWII: European Theater (Location: HISA-20WW2E)
Rising Sun Volume 1
by John Toland
from Random House
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Roll, Jordan, Roll
by Eugene D. Genovese
from Vintage Classics
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in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
Ronald Reagan
by Dinesh D'Souza
from Free Press
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Runaway Slaves
by John Hope Franklin
from Oxford University
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
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