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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1776
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Age of Enlightenment
Great Ages of Man
by Peter Gay
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Exploration
Great Ages of Man
by John R. Hale
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Kings
Great Ages of Man
by Charles Blitzer
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Voltaire
Story of Civilization IX
by Will & Ariel Durant
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Air Forces of the World
by Sue Butterworth, editor
from Chartwell Books
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in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Album of Memories
by Tom Brokaw
from Random House
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Alexander the Great, Killer of Men
by David J. Lonsdale
from Carroll & Graf Publishers
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
All Shook Up
Pivotal Moments in American History
by Glenn C. Altschuler
from Oxford University
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
America 1933
by Michael Golay
from Free Press
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American Caesar
by William Manchester
from Little, Brown & Company
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American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
by Jon Meacham
from Random House
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth
by M. K. Gandhi
from Navajivan Publishing House
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Ancient America
Great Ages of Man
by Jonathan Norton Leonard
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Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
from World Publishing Company
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1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Army of the Potomac - 3 Volumes
by Bruce Catton
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Assassins
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Battle for the Falklands
by Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins
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Big Burn
by Timothy Egan
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Brave Men
by Ernie Pyle
from Grosset & Dunlap
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
British and European Combat Aircraft
Combat Aircraft Library
by Paul A. Jackson
from Crescent Books
for Adult
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
British are Coming
The Revolution Trilogy #1 of 3
by Rick Atkinson
from Henry Holt and Company
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Bully Pulpit
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
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Caesar and Christ
Story of Civilization III
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Centennial History of the Civil War - 3 Volumes
by Bruce Catton
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by Horace Porter
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Churchill and Empire
by Lawrence James
from Pegasus Books
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Conquerors
by Michael Beschloss
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Cradle of Civilization
by Samuel Noah Kramer
from Time-Life Books
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Crusades
by Michael Paine
from Chartwell Books
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Dead and Those About to Die
by John C. McManus
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Distant Mirror
by Barbara W. Tuchman
from Ballantine Books
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$20.00
Easy Company Soldier
by Sgt. Don Malarkey
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$17.50
Egyptian Religion
by Sir Wallis Budge
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Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps
by Peter Galison
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Embattled Rebel
by James M. McPherson
from Penguin Press
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Fighting for Liberty and Virtue
by Marvin Olasky
from Crossway Books
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
First Great Civilizations
by Jacquetta Hawkes
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
by Gordon S. Wood
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Gettysburg: The Last Invasion
by Allen C. Guelzo
from Vintage Books
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Glory and the Dream - Volume 1
by William Manchester
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by William Manchester
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Grant Moves South
by Bruce Catton
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Great Britain to 1688 / Great Britain Since 1688
by Maurice Ashley and K.B. Smellie
from University of Michigan Press
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$16.00 (1 in stock)
Greater Journey
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Greatest Generation
by Tom Brokaw
1st edition from Random House
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
Greatest Generation Speaks
by Tom Brokaw
1st edition from Random House
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Guest of the Revolution
by Kathryn Koob
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Heritage of Persia
by Richard N. Frye
First Ediition from World Publishing Company
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History of Aviation
by John W.R. Taylor & Kenneth Munson
from Crown Publishers
for Adult
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History of the English-Speaking Peoples Volume 1
by Winston S. Churchill
from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 7th-Adult
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History of the Medieval World
by Susan Wise Bauer
1st edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for Adult
in Story of the World (Location: HISCUR-SoW)
$35.00 $22.00 (1 in stock)
Honor in the Dust
by Gregg Jones
from New American Library
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Hostile Skies
by James J. Hudson
1st edition from Syracuse University Press
for Adult
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$10.00 (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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$4.00 (1 in stock)
John Wanamaker: King of Merchants
by William Allen Zulker
from Eaglecrest Press
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Johnstown Flood
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
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Justinian & Theodora
by Robert Browning
from Thames and Hudson
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Killing the Wizards
by Alan Cowell
from Simon and Schuster
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Kitchener's Mob
by James Norman Hall
from Houghton Mifflin
for 10th-Adult
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Lafayette Flying Corps
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Houghton Mifflin
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Last Men Out
by Bob Drury & Tom Clavin
1st Printing from Free Press
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Lexington Goes Down
by A. A. Hoehling
from Prentice Hall
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Light of Days
by Judy Batalion
from William Morrow & Company
for Adult
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$6.00 (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)
Lost Peace
by Robert Dallek
from HarperCollins
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mary Chesnut's Civil War
by C. Vann Woodward, ed.
from Book-of-the-Month Club
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Mathew Brady
by James D. Horan
from Bonanza Books
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Milestones of Aviation
by John T. Greenwood, editor
Beaux Arts Edition from Beaux Arts Editions
for Adult
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Miracle at Philadelphia
by Catherine Drinker Bowen
from Little, Brown & Company
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$9.00 (3 in stock)
Mirror of War: The Washington Star Reports the Civil War
by John W. Stepp, I. William Hill
from Prentice Hall
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Mississippi and the Making of a Nation
by Stephen Ambrose and Douglas Brinkley, photographs by Sam Abell
from National Geographic
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Mosby's Rangers
by Jeffry D. Wert
from Simon and Schuster
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Nothing Like It in the World
by Stephen E. Ambrose
from Simon and Schuster
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Old Williamsburg and Her Neighbors
by William Stevens
3rd Printing from Dodd, Mead & Co.
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
One Nation Under Debt
by Robert E. Wright
from McGraw-Hill
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Our Mountain Hermitage
by Anne Roller Issler
from Stanford University Press
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades
by Jonathan Riley-Smith
from Oxford University
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Paris: the Turbulent City
by Andre Castelot
from Barrie & Rockliff
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Peter the Great: His Life and World
by Robert K. Massie
from Wings Books
for Adult
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages
by Dan Jones
from Viking Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Reformation
Story of Civilization Volume VI
by Will Durant
from Simon and Schuster
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$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)
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)
Ronald Reagan
by Dinesh D'Souza
from Free Press
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Second World War: Closing the Ring
Second World War Volume 5
by Winston S. Churchill
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
for 10th grade-adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Second World War: Gathering Storm
Second World War Volume 1
by Winston Churchill
from Houghton Mifflin
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Second World War: Grand Alliance
Second World War Volume 3
by Winston S. Churchill
from Bantam Books
for 10th grade-adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Second World War: Hinge of Fate
Second World War Volume 4
by Winston S. Churchill
from Houghton Mifflin
for 10th grade-adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Second World War: Their Finest Hour
Second World War Volume 2
by Winston S. Churchill
from Houghton Mifflin
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Second World War: Triumph and Tragedy
Second World War Volume 6
by Winston Churchill
from Houghton Mifflin
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Sky Warriors
by Christopher Chant
from Longmeadow Press
for Adult
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
So Long Until Tomorrow
by Lowell Thomas
from William Morrow & Company
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Something That Will Surprise the World
by Susan Dunn, editor, foreword by Joseph J. Ellis
from Basic Books
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
Stillness at Appomattox
The Army of the Patomac Volume 3
by Bruce Catton
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 10th grade-adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Story of World War II
by Donald L. Miller (revised by), Henry Steele Commager
Revised Expanded and Updated from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Supreme Commander
by Seymour Morris Jr.
from HarperCollins
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Tears of the White Man
by Pascal Bruckner, translated by William R. Beer
from Free Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
The Admirals
by Walter R. Borneman
from Little, Brown & Company
for Adult
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