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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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Sterling Classics
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Scott McKowen
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American Plague
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2004 Newbery Honor Book, 2004 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner, NCTE Orbi Pictus Award
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Annotated Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, edited by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
Annotated from W. W. Norton and Co.
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Answering the Cry for Freedom
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Ark, The
by Margot Benary-Isbert
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Beautiful Stories of Life
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1936 Newbery Medal winner
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by Marilyn Nelson
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2002 Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Award
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$16.95
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3rd edition from Facts On File
African History Reference/Atlas for 4th-8th grade
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3rd edition from Facts On File
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Cultural Atlas for Young People: Ancient Greece
by Anton Powell
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by Marion Wood
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by Mike Corbishley
3rd edition from Facts On File
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Cultural Atlas for Young People: Middle Ages
by Mike Corbishley
3rd edition from Chelsea House Publishing
Atlas/History Reference for 4th-8th grade
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$35.00
D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from New York Review of Books
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$29.95
DK Eyewitness: Ancient China
DK Eyewitness Series
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from DK Publishing
Chinese History Reference for 4th-8th grade
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DK Eyewitness: Ancient Rome
DK Eyewitness Series
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DK Eyewitness Series
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DK Eyewitness Series
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Do's and Don'ts of Yesteryear
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Dragonfly Eyes
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Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
$20.00
Elizabeth Prentiss
by Sharon James
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European World 400-1450
by Barbara Hanawalt
from Oxford University
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Fallout
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Fields of Fury
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Fight for Freedom
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First Four Years
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Flood of Noah
by Bodie Hodge, Laura Welch
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For You They Signed
by Marilyn Boyer
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Freewater
by Amina Luqman Dawson
from Little, Brown & Company
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2023 Newbery Medal Winner
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Girl Who Drew Butterflies
by Joyce Sidman
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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2019 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
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Good Fight
by Stephen Ambrose
from Atheneum
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Hitler Youth
by Susan Bartoletti
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2006 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
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$21.99
Lafayette!
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #8
by Nathan Hale
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Laura Ingalls Wilder: Pioneer Girl
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Pamela Smith Hill
from South Dakota State Historical Society Press
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Little Town on the Prairie
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
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1942 Newbery Honor Book
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$19.99
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by M.E. Gray
Unabridged from Everyman's Library
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
$16.95
Lost Queen of Egypt
by Lucile Morrison, illustrated by Franz Geritz
from Purple House Press
Historical Fiction for 3rd-10th grade
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$28.00
Luther
by Frederick Nohl
from Concordia Publishing House
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Major Impossible
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #9
by Nathan Hale
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$14.99
Must I Give Him Up?
Huguenot Inheritance Series #14
by Deborah Alcock
from Inheritance Publications
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$8.95
Mystery of History Volume II
by Linda Lacour Hobar
2nd edition from Bright Ideas Press
History Curriculum for 5th-8th grade
in Mystery of History (Location: HISCUR-MoH)
$99.95
Mystery of History Volume III
by Linda Lacour Hobar
from Bright Ideas Press
for 6th-9th grade
in Mystery of History (Location: HISCUR-MoH)
$99.95
Mythology
by Edith Hamilton
from Black Dog & Leventhal
Mythology for 7th-Adult
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$29.99
Navigating History: Egypt - Timeline
from Western Conservatory of the Arts & Sciences
for 6th-12th grade
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$8.00
Navigating the Worldviews of Egypt
1st edition from Western Conservatory of the Arts & Sciences
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$25.00
O Captain, My Captain
by Robert Burleigh; illustrated by Sterling Hundley
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
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$19.99
One Dead Spy
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #1
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
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$15.99
Pages of History Volume 1
by Bruce Etter, Alexia Detweiler
2nd edition from Veritas Press
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$25.00
Percy Jackson's Greek Gods
by Rick Riordan
from Disney-Hyperion
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$12.99
Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes
by Rick Riordan
from Disney-Hyperion
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$12.99
Poor Richard's Almanack
by Benjamin Franklin
from Peter Pauper Press
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$10.95 $7.00 (1 in stock)
Raid of No Return
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #7
by Nathan Hale
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$14.99
Real Revolution
from Clarion Books
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$22.00
Redskin and Cowboy
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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$20.00
Robin Hood
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by Paul Creswick, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
Reissue from Atheneum
for 6th-10th grade
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$24.99
Rowan Farm
by Margot Benary-Isbert
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$23.00
Sir Walter Raleigh and the Quest for El Dorado
by Marc Aronson
from Clarion Books
for 7th-9th grade
2001 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
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$21.99 $12.00 (2 in stock)
Snow Goose
by Paul Gallico
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$19.95 $14.00 (2 in stock)
Swallows' Flight
by Hilary McKay
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
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in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$17.99
These Happy Golden Years
Little House Series #8
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1944 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.99
This Promise of Change
by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy
from Bloomsbury Publishing
for 6th-12th grade
2020 Robert F. Siebert Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99
Trailblazing Life of Daniel Boone
by Cheryl Harness
from National Geographic
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.95
Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #4
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
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$14.99
Underground Abductor
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #5
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 3rd-8th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$14.99
Unveiling the Kings of Israel
by David Down
from Master Books
for 7th-12th grade
in Ancient Israel (Location: HISW-ANIS)
$27.99
Usborne Time Traveler
by Tony Allen
from Usborne
Ancient/Middle Ages History Reference for 3rd-8th grade
in World History Reference (Location: HISW-REF)
$20.69
When Lightning Struck!
by Danika Cooley
from Fortress Press
for 5th-9th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99 $9.00 (2 in stock)
Won By the Sword
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
$20.00
World Made New
by Marc Aronson & John W. Glenn
from National Geographic
for 3rd-7th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$17.95
World of Little House
by Carolyn Strom Collins & Christina Wyss Eriksson
from HarperCollins
Literature Resource for 4th-8th grade
in Little House Materials (Location: LIR-LHM)
$29.99