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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Aeneas: Virgil's Epic Retold for Young Readers
by Emily Frenkel(translator and reteller), Virgil (original text), illustrated by Simon Weller
2015 Reprint from Bloomsbury Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Aeneid for Boys and Girls
by Alfred J. Church
from Yesterday's Classics
Roman Mythology for 5th-8th grade
$10.16
Aeneid for Boys and Girls
by Alfred J. Church
from Living Book Press
Roman Mythology for 5th-8th grade
$5.94
Alaska Bush Pilot
by Charles Coombs
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$11.04
America Grows Up
A History for Peter #2
by Gerald W. Johnson
from Yesterday's Classics
for 4th-7th grade
in New Nation (1783-1801) (Location: HISA-18NN)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
America In Korean War
by KidCaps
from BookCaps
for 3rd-5th grade
in Korean War (1950-1953) (Location: HISA-20KW)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
America Moves Forward
A History for Peter #3
by Gerald W. Johnson
from Yesterday's Classics
for 4th-7th grade
in New Nation (1783-1801) (Location: HISA-18NN)
American History Stories Volume 1
by Mara L. Pratt
from Yesterday's Classics
for 3rd-6th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$11.95
American History Stories Volume 2
by Mara L. Pratt
from Yesterday's Classics
for 3rd-6th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$11.95 $7.00 (1 in stock)
American History Stories Volume 3
by Mara L. Pratt
from Yesterday's Classics
for 3rd-6th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$11.95
American History Stories Volume 4
by Mara L. Pratt
from Yesterday's Classics
for 3rd-6th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$11.95
Antoine of Oregon
America's Children
by James Otis
from Living Book Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Ark, The
by Margot Benary-Isbert
2021 Revision from Purple House Press
for 3rd-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$13.59
Awakening of Europe
Story of the World Series #3
by M. B. Synge
from Yesterday's Classics
History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$13.95
Awakening of Europe
Story of the World Series #3
by M. B. Synge
from Living Book Press
History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$9.99
Bears of Blue River
by Charles Major
from Living Book Press
for 3rd-7th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$7.64
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
by Edith Nesbit
from Yesterday's Classics
Shakespeare/Drama for Children for 4th-8th grade
$11.86
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
by Edith Nesbit
from Living Book Press
Shakespeare/Drama for Children for 4th-8th grade
$14.44
Behold Your Queen
by Gladys Malvern
from Special Edition Books
for 6th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95
Behold Your Queen
by Gladys Malvern
from Purple House Press
for 6th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$12.99
Best Bad Thing
by Yoshiko Uchida
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$3.60 (1 in stock)
Betrothed
by Alessandro Manzoni
REPRINT Edition from Living Book Press
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire
by James Headlam
from CreateSpace
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.99
Black Arrow
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
from SeaWolf Press
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
Black Arrow
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Frances Brundage
from Living Book Press
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Bondage of the Will
by Martin Luther, translated by Henry Cole
from Feather Trail Press
for Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Book of Discovery
by M. B. Synge
from Yesterday's Classics
for 7th-12th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$20.95 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Marvels: Marvels of the Occident
by Richard Halliburton
from Living Book Press
for 3rd-Adult
in International Landmarks & Symbols (Location: HISV-LANINT)
$17.99
Book of Marvels: Marvels of the Orient
by Richard Halliburton
from Living Book Press
for 3rd-Adult
in International Landmarks & Symbols (Location: HISV-LANINT)
$17.99
Book of the Ancient World
by Dorothy Mills
from Angelico Press
for 5th-8th grade
in Ancient History (Location: HISW-ANC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Borrowed House
Bethlehem Books Young Adult Bookshelf
by Hilda Van Stockum
from Purple House Press
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$11.86
Boys' and Girls' Herodotus
by John S. White
Facsimile Edition from Kessinger Publishing
Ancient History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Burning of Rome
by Alfred J. Church
from Yesterday's Classics
for 6th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$12.71
Cedric the Forester
by Bernard Marshall
from CreateSpace
for 6th-8th grade
1922 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Chestry Oak
by Kate Seredy
from Purple House Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$13.59
Children of the New Forest
by Frederick Marryat
from Yesterday's Classics
Historical Fiction for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$12.71
Children of the New Forest
by Frederick Marryat
from Living Book Press
Historical Fiction for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$12.99
Children of the Red King
by Madeleine Polland
from Hillside Education
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$12.71
Children's Plutarch: Tales of the Greeks
by F. J. Gould
from Yesterday's Classics
Greek History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in Classics Retold (Location: FIC-RET)
$11.86 $5.60 (1 in stock)
Children's Plutarch: Tales of the Romans
by F. J. Gould, Reteller
from Yesterday's Classics
for 4th-8th grade
in Classics Retold (Location: FIC-RET)
$10.16 $5.60 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus: His Story and His Journals
Knowledge Keepers Home Library Series 1492
by Edward Everett Hale and Edward Gaylord Bourne
from Knowledge Keepers
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Chuiraquimba and the Black Robes
by Madeleine Polland, illustrated by Juan Carlos Barberis
from Hillside Education
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$12.71
City of the Golden House
by Madeleine Polland
from Hillside Education
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Combat Nurses of World War II
Landmark #116
by Wyatt Blassingame, illustrated by Gil Walker
from Purple House Press
for 5th-9th grade
in World War II (1939-1945) (Location: HISA-20WW2)
$13.99
Combat Nurses of World War II
Landmark #116
by Wyatt Blassingame
Photo Edition from Purple House Press
for 5th-9th grade
in World War II (1939-1945) (Location: HISA-20WW2)
$15.99
Common Sense
Dover Thrift Editions
by Thomas Paine
from Living Book Press
Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
Daisy Chain
by Charlotte Yonge
from Living Book Press
Realistic Fiction for 9th-12th grade
in Morality Tales (Location: FIC-WH05)
Dan Morgan, Rifleman
by Ernest E. Tucker
70th anniversary from Purple House Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$11.04
David Crockett: His Life and Adventures
by John S. C. Abbott
from CreateSpace
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.99
Days of Elijah
by John Noble
from Lulu.com
for 9th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.99
Days of Elijah
by John Noble
from Unknown Publisher
for 9th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Days of Joseph
by John Noble
from Unknown Publisher
for 9th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Discovery of Guiana
by Walter Raleigh
from Living Book Press
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$6.99
Discovery of New Worlds
Story of the World Series #2
by M. B. Synge
from Yesterday's Classics
History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$13.95
Discovery of New Worlds
Story of the World Series #2
by M. B. Synge
from Living Book Press
History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$9.99
Early Church
by George Hodges
from Yesterday's Classics
for 8th-12th grade
in Church History (Location: XCH-HIS)
$15.95
Egyptian Adventures
by Olivia Coolidge, illustrated by Joseph Low
from Hillside Education
Realistic fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Escape to King Alfred
by Geoffrey Trease
from Hillside Education
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.41
Famous Men of the Middle Ages
by John H. Haaren & A.B. Poland
from Yesterday's Classics
Historical Reference for 5th - 10th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$13.95
Fingal's Quest
by Madeleine Polland, illustrated by W.T. Mars
2019 Reprint from Hillside Education
for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$12.71
Florence Nightingale
by Laura E. Richards
from Yesterday's Classics
Biography for 6th-9th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$11.01
Free at Last
by Sara Bullard
from Oxford University
for 3rd-6th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Freighters and Pilgrims
Knowledge Keepers Home Library Series 1865
by Charles E. Young and Sarah Raymond Herndon
from Knowledge Keepers
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Frontier Living
by Edwin Tunis
from Lyons Press
Historical Reference for 7th-10th grade
Newbery Honor Book 1962
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$19.95
Gabriel and the Hour Book
by Evaleen Stein
from Yesterday's Classics
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.46
Gabriel and the Hour Book
by Evaleen Stein
from Unknown Publisher
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$3.20 (2 in stock)
Galileo and the Magic Numbers
by Sidney Rosen
2021 Reissue
for 5th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99
General Lee: Southern Commander
Knowledge Keepers Home Library Series 1861
by John Esten Cooke, Captain Robert E. Lee, foreword by Nicki Truesdell
from Knowledge Keepers
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Gift of Black Folk
by W. E. B. Du Bois
from Purple House Press
for 7th-Adult
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$10.99
God's Troubadour
by Sophie Jewett
from Yesterday's Classics
for 2nd-5th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$6.97
Golden Age
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Maxfield Parrish
from SeaWolf Press
for 6th-9th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$6.76
Great Gatsby and Winter Dreams
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
from SeaWolf Press
Realistic Fiction for 9th-12th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$8.49
Great Quest
by Charles Boardman Hawes
from CreateSpace
for 5th-8th grade
1922 Newbery Honor Book
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$9.95
Growth of the British Empire
Story of the World Series #5
by M. B. Synge
from Yesterday's Classics
British History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$13.95
Growth of the British Empire
Story of the World Series #5
by M. B. Synge
from Living Book Press
British History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$10.99
Hannibal
Makers of History Series
by Jacob Abbott
from Yesterday's Classics
for 7th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$11.01
He Went with Champlain
by Louise Andrews Kent
2022 Reprint from Living Book Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$13.59
He Went with Christopher Columbus
by Louise Andrews Kent
2022 Reprint from Living Book Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$13.59
He Went with Drake
by Louise Andrews Kent
2022 Reprint from Living Book Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$13.59
He Went with Hannibal
by Louise Andrews Kent
2022 Reprint from Living Book Press
for 6th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$13.59
He Went with John Paul Jones
by Louise Andrews Kent
2022 Reprint from Living Book Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$13.59
He Went with Magellan
by Louise Andrews Kent
2022 Reprint from Living Book Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$13.59
He Went with Marco Polo
by Louise Andrews Kent
2022 Reprint from Living Book Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$13.59
He Went with Vasco da Gama
by Louise Andrews Kent
2022 Reprint from Living Book Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$13.59
Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
Signet Classics
by Helen Keller
from Living Book Press
Autobiography for 7th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$13.59
Hereward the Wake
by Charles Kingsley
from Living Book Press
for 8th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.14
Heroes
by Charles Kingsley
from Yesterday's Classics
for 4th-7th grade
$11.01 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Heroes
by Charles Kingsley
from Living Book Press
for 4th-7th grade
$8.49 $5.60 (2 in stock)
Heroes of the Middle Ages
by Eva March Tappan
from Yesterday's Classics
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$14.95
History of King Charles II of England
by Jacob Abbott
from Living Book Press
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.99
History of Peter the Great
Makers of History
by Jacob Abbott
2009th edition from Seven Treasures Publication
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Iliad for Boys and Girls
by Alfred J. Church
from Yesterday's Classics
for 5th-8th grade
$10.16
Iliad for Boys and Girls
by Alfred J. Church
from Living Book Press
for 5th-8th grade
$6.79
In Freedom's Cause
by G. A. Henty
from Living Book Press
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
$11.89
In the Days of Queen Elizabeth
by Eva March Tappan
2023 Reprint from Living Book Press
for 6th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.49
In the Days of Queen Victoria
by Eva March Tappan
2023 Reprint from Living Book Press
for 6th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.34
In the Days of William the Conqueror
by Eva March Tappan
2023 Reprint from Living Book Press
for 6th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.49
InDepthInfo on Modern European History
by William J. Rayment
from Unknown Publisher
for 9th-12th grade
in Miscellaneous History Curriculum (Location: HISCUR-MISC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Iriquois Handbook
Knowledge Keepers Home Library Series 1771
by Reverend John Heckewelder
from Knowledge Keepers
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott, Illustrated by Frank E. Schoonover
200th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
123