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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1066: The Year of the Conquest
by David Howarth
from Penguin Putnam
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$16.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
11 Days in December
by Stanley Weintraub
from New American Library
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
1776
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
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1861: The Civil War Awakening
by Adam Goodheart
from Vintage Books
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20 Exciting Plays for Medieval History Classes
by Dean Bowman
from Walch Publishing
for 7th-9th grade
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$25.00
20 Plays for U. S. History Classes
by Dean R. Bowman
Revised from Walch Publishing
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20th Century Wars
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24 Exciting Plays for Ancient History Classes
by Dean R. Bowman
from Walch Publishing
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9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation
by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon
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Aaron and the Green Mountain Boys
by Patricia Lee Gauch, illustrated by Margot Tomes
from Betterway Books
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Abe Lincoln Goes to Washington
by Cheryl Harness
from National Geographic
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
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Abraham Lincoln
Heroes of History
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from Emerald Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
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$11.99
Abraham Lincoln
by Clara Ingram Judson
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Biography for 3rd-7th grade
1951 Newbery Honor Book
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Abraham Lincoln
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
75th Anniversary Edition from Beautiful Feet Books
Picture Book Biography for 3rd-6th grade
1940 Caldecott Medal winner
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$17.95
Abraham Lincoln's World
by Genevieve Foster, expanded by Joanna Foster
from Beautiful Feet Books
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1945 Newbery Honor Book
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Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith
by G. Frederick Owen
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Accidental Voyage
Mr. Pipes Series #4
by Doug Bond
from P&R Publishing
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$15.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Across America on an Emigrant Train
by Jim Murphy
from Sandpiper Books
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1994 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
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$10.95
Adam and His Kin
by Ruth Beechick
from Mott Media
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
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Addy Learns a Lesson
by Connie Porter
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Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
Hornblower Series #11
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
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by Paul Rink
from Sterling Publishing Co.
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Adventures in Ancient Greece
by Linda Bailey
from Kids Can Press
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$1.50 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Lewis & Clark
by Jamie Aramini
from Geography Matters
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Adventures of Munford: The American Revolution
by Jamie Aramini
1st edition from Geography Matters
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Adventures of Munford: The Klondike Gold Rush
by Jamie Aramini
1st edition from Geography Matters
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Adventures of the American Revolution
by Susan Olasky
from P&R Publishing
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Adventures of Theodore Roosevelt
by Theodore Roosevelt
from National Geographic
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$16.00
Aeneid
by Virgil, translated by Robert Fitzgerald
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Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 10th-Adult
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Aeneid
by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles
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$19.00
Aeschylus I: The Oresteia (old)
The Complete Greek Tragedies
by Aeschylus (translation by Richmond Lattimore)
from University of Chicago
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
in Clearance: Literature (Location: ZCLE-LIT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Aeschylus II: The Oresteia
The Complete Greek Tragedies
by Aeschylus (translation by Richmond Lattimore)
3rd edition from University of Chicago
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
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$14.00
Aeschylus' Oresteia
Penguin Classics
by Aeschylus (translation by Robert Fagles)
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
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$16.00
Aeschylus' Oresteia
by Aeschylus, translated by Peter Meineck
from Hackett Publishing Company
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$13.50
Aeschylus' Oresteian Trilogy
Penguin Classics
by Aeschylus, translated by Phillip Vellacott
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
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Against the World
by Henry Coray
from Inheritance Publications
Biography for 5th-8th grade
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$9.95
Agatha Christie: An Autobiography
by Agatha Christie
2012 Reissue from William Morrow & Company
for 11th-Adult
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Age of Fighting Sail
by C. S. Forester
from Chapman Billies, Inc
American Naval History for 8th-Adult
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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)
Ahoy There, Little Polar Bear
by Hans de Beer
Fir from Scholastic Inc.
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AIO Imagination Station Book #01
by Marianne Hering & Paul McCusker
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by Marianne Hering & Paul McCusker
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$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #06
by Marianne Hering & Marshal Younger
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AIO Imagination Station Book #07
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AIO Imagination Station Book #09
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$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #10
by Marianne Hering, Wayne Thomas Batson
from Focus on the Family
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$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #11
by Marianne Hering, Wayne Thomas Batson
from Focus on the Family
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$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #13
by Marianne Hering, Nancy I. Sanders
from Focus on the Family
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$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #14
by Marianne Hering, Nancy I. Sanders
from Focus on the Family
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$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #15
by Marianne Hering, Nancy I. Sanders
from Focus on the Family
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$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #16
by Marianne Hering, Paul McCusker
from Focus on the Family
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$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #19
by Marianne Hering
from Focus on the Family
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AIO Imagination Station Book #20
by Marianne Hering
from Focus on the Family
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AIO Imagination Station Book #21
by Marianne Hering
from Focus on the Family
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in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #22
by Marianne Hering & Sheila Seifert
from Focus on the Family
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in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
Air Raid - Pearl Harbor!
by Theodore Taylor
1st Gulliver Books pbk. ed from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 4th-6th grade
in WWII: Pacific Theater (Location: HISA-20WW2P)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Akiak: A Tale From the Iditarod
by Robert J. Blake
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko
Reprint from Puffin Books
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2005 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99
Alamo
Perspectives on History Series
by Mary Dodson Wade, editor
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
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Alexander Graham Bell
by Elizabeth MacLeod
from Kids Can Press
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow
from Penguin Random House
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Alexander the Great
by Robert Green
from Grolier Publishing
Biography for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.50 (3 in stock)
Alexander the Great
Sterling Point Books
by John Gunther
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Historical Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Alexander the Great
by Jacob Abbott
from Canon Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00
Alexander the Great
by Andrew Langley
Reissue from Oxford University
for Preschool-3rd grade
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$6.99
Alexander the Great Coloring Book
by John K. Anderson
from Bellerophon Books
for 1st-4th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
Alexander the Great: His Armies and Campaigns 334-323 BC
by John Warry, Nick Sekunda
from Osprey Publishing
for 4th-7th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
Alfred the Great
by Asser
from Penguin Classics
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$18.00
Alia's Mission
by Mark Alan Stamaty
from Dragonfly Books
for 3rd-5th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
All That Glitters
Perspectives on History Series
by Phyllis Raybin Emert
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
in California State (Location: HISA-19CGR)
All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #2
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Beth & Joe Krush
from Lizzie Skurnick Books
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$12.95
All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #4
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Mary Stevens
from Lizzie Skurnick Books
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$12.95
Allen Jay and the Underground Railroad
On My Own History
by Marlene Targ Brill
from First Avenue Editions
for 3rd-5th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Almost Home
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
from Moody Press
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
in Daughters of the Faith (Location: SER-DAU)
$7.99 $5.00 (4 in stock)
Along Came Galileo
by Jeanne Bendick
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.95
Amazing Grace
by Eric Metaxas
from HarperOne
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.99
Amazing Impossible Erie Canal
by Cheryl Harness
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Historical Non-Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$7.99
America and Vietnam
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Historical Non-Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Vietnam War (1957-1975) (Location: HISA-20VIE)
$13.95
America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
by Sally Senzell Isaacs
from Heinemann Library
for 1st-4th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
America's Longest War
by George C. Herring
2nd edition from McGraw-Hill
for 11th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
America's Paul Revere
by Esther Forbes
from Sandpiper Books
Biography for 2nd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.99
America: From Gridlock to Deadlock
A Basic History of the United States Volume 6
by Clarence B. Carson
from American Textbook Committee
American History Reference for 9th-Adult
in Basic History of the United States (Location: HISCUR-US)
$19.00
American Army of Two
On My Own History
by Janet Greeson
Reprint from First Avenue Editions
for 1st-3rd grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
American Civil War
by Robert K. Krick
from Osprey Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
American Civil War
by John Keegan
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$18.95
American Passage
by Vincent J. Cannato
from Harper Perennial
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Revolution
America at War Series
by Alden Carter
from Grolier Publishing
Historical Non-fiction for 4th-6th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$6.95 $5.00 (4 in stock)
American Revolutionaries
by Milton Meltzer
from HarperCollins
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Twins of the Revolution
by Lucy Fitch Perkins
from Salem Ridge Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
American Waterways: Canal Days
by Jeanne Munn Bracken, ed.
from History Compass
for 7th-12th grade
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$5.50 (1 in stock)
Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
by Gordon S. Wood
from Penguin Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Amistad
by Helen Kromer
from The Pilgrim Press
for 7th-Adult
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
Amistad Slave Revolt and American Abolition
by Karen Zeinert
from Linnet Books
for 7th-10th grade
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom
by Walter Dean Myers
from Puffin Books
for 5th-8th grade
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Ancient Celts
from Scholastic Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Ancient City
by Hazel Dodge, Peter Connolly
First Thus from Oxford University
for 8th-Adult
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$14.00 (2 in stock)
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