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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Amelia Earhart
Lives to Remember
by Burke Davis
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
American Revolution
Revolution!
by R. G. Grant
from Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Ancient Greeks
by Sophie Descamps-Lequime & Denise Vernerey
from Millbrook Press
for 4th-6th grade
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Ancient Romans
People of the Ancient World
by Allison Lassieur
from Franklin Watts
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Assyrians
by Elaine Landau
from Millbrook Press
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Athenians In the Classical Period
Life Long Ago
by Leonard Weisgard (pictures and text)
from Coward McCann
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$48.00 (1 in stock)
Battle of Valcour Bay
Triangle Histories: The Revolutionary War
by Scott Ingram
from Blackbirch Press
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Ben Franklin
See and Read: Beginning to Read Biography
by Estelle Friedman, illustrated by James Caraway
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
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Benjamin Franklin
Makers of America
by Ruth Cromer Weir, illustrated by Rus Anderson
from Abingdon Press
for 2nd-4th grade
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Beorn the Proud
by Madeleine Polland, Illustrated by William Stobbs
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
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Black Courage
by A. E. Schraff
from Macrae-Smith Company
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Blowing-Wand
Land of the Free Series
by Elsie Reif Ziegler, illustrated by Jacob Landau
from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
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$18.00 (1 in stock)
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Great Journeys
by Milton Meltzer
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Castles
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Christmas on the Prairie
by Joan. Anderson
from Clarion Books
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$8.00 (2 in stock)
Christopher Columbus and His Legacy
Opposing Viewpoints Series
by Mary Ellen Jones, Editor
from Greenhaven Press
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus and the Discovery of the New World
by Jim Gallagher
from Chelsea House Publishing
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
City! San Francisco
by George Ancona, Shirley Climo
from Simon and Schuster
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Civil War
American War Series
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Clara Barton: Civil War Nurse
Historical American Biographies
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Cleopatra
by Diane Stanley & Peter Vennema
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Closer Look at Vikings
from Hamish Hamilton
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Colonial People: The Silversmith
by Wil Mara
from Marshall Cavendish Education
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Colonial Places
by Sarah Howarth
from Millbrook Press
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Confederate Girl: The Diary of Carrie Berry, 1864
by Carrie Berry; edited by Christy Steele and Anne Todd
from Capstone Press
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
Constitution
American Symbols and their Meanings
by Hal Marcovitz
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Cowboy Soldier
by Donald Russell, illustrated by Max Ranft
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Crazy Horse: The Story of an American Indian
by John R. Milton
Second Printing 1975 from Dillon Press
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Dakota Dugout
by Ann Turner; illustrated by Ronald Himler
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Dark Venture
by Audrey White Beyer, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon
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Dear Levi
by Elvira Woodruff
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Discoverer: The Story of a Satellite
by Michael Chester and Saunders B. Kramer
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$18.00 (1 in stock)
Drinking Gourd
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by F. N. Monjo
from HarperCrest
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Early American Industrial Revolution
Let Freedom Ring
by Katie Bagley
from Bridgestone Books
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Earthquake!
by Kate Wilson
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Egyptian Pyramid
Inside Story
by Jacqueline Morley, Mark Bergin, John James
from Peter Bedrick Books
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Eliza Pinckney
Weekly Reader Heroes of the Revolution
by Susan & John Lee
from Children's Press
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Explorers of the Arctic and Antarctic
by Edward F. Dolan
from Crowell-Collier
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Fall of Constantinople
by Ruth Tenzer Feldman
from Twenty-first Century Books
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$20.00 (1 in stock)
Fast Forward Egyptian Mummies
by Henrietta McCall, illustrated by Dave Antram
from Franklin Watts
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Ferdinand Magellan
by Milton Meltzer
from Benchmark Books
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Ferdinand Magellan and the Discovery of the World Ocean
by Rebecca Stefoff
from Chelsea House Publishing
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Ferdinand Magellan and the First Voyage Around the World
by Jim Gallagher
from Chelsea House Publishing
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$3.00 (2 in stock)
First Book of Ancient Rome
by Charles Alexander Robinson, Jr., Revised by Lorna Greenberg
Revised Edition from Franklin Watts
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First Olympic Games
from Silver Burdett Press
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Follow the Dream
by Peter Sís
from Dragonfly Books
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Forts in the Wilderness
by Edith S. McCall
from Children's Press
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Francisco Coronado and the Exploration of the American Southwest
Explorers of New Worlds
by Hal Marcovitz
from Chelsea House Publishing
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
Latinos in American History
by Jim Whiting
from Mitchell Lane Publishers
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
From Sea to Shining Sea: Americans Move West 1846-1860
How America Became America
by Jack Rakove, Sheila Nelson
from Mason Crest Publishers
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
Future in Space
Isaac Asimov's Library of the Universe
by Isaac Asimov
from Gareth Stevens Publishing
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Geronimo: Apache Freedom Fighter
Native American Biographies
by Spring Hermann
from Enslow
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Giotto
Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists
by Mike Venezia
from Children's Press
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Glorious Days, Dreadful Days
Stories of America
by Philippa Kirby
from Steck-Vaughn Company
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$5.50 (1 in stock)
Good Women of a Well-Blessed Land
by Brandon Marie Miller
from Lerner Publishing Group
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in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Grand Papa and Ellen Aroon
by F. N. Monjo, illustrated by Richard Cuffari
1st edition from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 3rd-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Harriet Tubman
Triangle Histories: The Civil War
by Lisa Halvorsen
from Blackbirch Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Henry Hudson
Library of Explorers and Exploration
by Josepha Sherman
from Rosen Central
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Her Story, Her Words
by Frances E. Ruffin
from Rosen Central
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Hernando de Soto and the Exploration of Florida
by Jim Gallagher
from Chelsea House Publishing
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
History Beneath Your Feet: Ancient Rome
by Sean Sheehan
from Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishing
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
History of the World: Early Middle Ages
from Heinemann Educational Books
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$8.50 (1 in stock)
History of the World: Late Middle Ages
by Monica Dombrosio, Roberto Barbieri
from Steck-Vaughn Company
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$8.50 (1 in stock)
How and Why Wonder Book of the Polar Regions
by Irving Robbin, illustrated by Shannon Stirnweis
from Grosset & Dunlap
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
How Men Discovered the World
by Hans R. Hecke, illustrated by Nikolaus Plump, freely translated by Moya Gillespie
from Lerner Publishing Group
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
How People Lived in Ancient Egypt
How People Lived
by Jane Bingham
from PowerKids Press
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
How They Built the Statue of Liberty
by Mary J. Shapiro, illustrated by Huck Scarry
from Random House
for 1st-4th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Hunters Blaze the Trails
by Edith S. McCall
New 1980 Edition from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Hunters Blaze the Trails
by Edith S. McCall
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
In 1492
by Jean Marzollo
from Scholastic Inc.
Picture Book Biography for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
In Their Own Words: World War I
by Nicholas Saunders
from Gareth Stevens Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in World War I (1914-1919) (Location: HISA-20WW1)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Incas
by Rosemary Rees
from Heinemann Educational Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Invaders
by Martin Windrow
from ARCO
for 3rd-8th grade
in Military & Weapon History (Location: HISV-MILIT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Isaac Newton and Gravity
by Steve Parker
from Chelsea House Publishing
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Island Far From Home
by John Donahue
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
James Longstreet
Triangle Histories: The Civil War
by Melanie LeTourneau
from Blackbirch Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Jefferson Davis
Triangle Histories: The Civil War
by W. Scott Ingram
from Blackbirch Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
John and Sebastian Cabot
by Henry Ira Kurtz
from Franklin Watts
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
John Charles Frémont
by Charles W. Maynard
1st edition from PowerKids Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
John Hancock: A Signature Life
by Philip Koslow
from Franklin Watts
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Joseph E. Johnston
Famous Figures of the Civil War Era
by Christin Ditchfield
from Chelsea House Publishing
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Journal of One Davey Wyatt
by Donald Honig, illustrated by Sam Fink
from Franklin Watts
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Journey to the Past: Ancient Egypt
by Romano Solbiati
from Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishing
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in Ancient Egypt (Location: HISW-ANEG)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Juan Ponce de Leon and the Search for the Fountain of Youth
by Daniel E. Harmon
from Chelsea House Publishing
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$6.00 (2 in stock)
Leif Eriksson
by Cynthia Fitterer Klingel, Robert B. Noyed
from Child's World
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in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Lewis and Clark Expedition
We the People
by Patricia Ryon Quiri
from Compass Point Books
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in Lewis & Clark (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Liberty Bell
Primary Sources of American Symbols
by Jennifer Silate
1st edition from PowerKids Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Landmarks & Symbols of the United States (Location: HISV-LANUS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Life During the Great Civilizations: The Inca
by Charles & Linda George
from Blackbirch Press
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in Ancient America (Location: HISW-ANAM)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Life During the Russian Revolution
by Victoria Sherrow
from Lucent Press
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in Communism & The Cold War (Location: HISA-20CW)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Life in the Castle in Medieval England
by John Burke
from British Heritage Press
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in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Life in the Time of Pericles and the Ancient Greeks
by Michael Poulton
from Raintree
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in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Magellan
by Michael Burgan
from Compass Point Books
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in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Magic of Spices
by E. Joseph Dreany
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Mao Zedong's China
by Kathlyn Gay
from Lerner Publishing Group
for 5th-9th grade
in China (Location: HISMC-CHI)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Maryland Colony: Lord Baltimore
Building America
by Jim Whiting
from Mitchell Lane Publishers
for 3rd-5th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Master George's People
by Marfe Ferguson Delano
from National Geographic
for 5th-9th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Middle Ages
Cambridge Introduction to History
by Trevor Cairns
from Lerner Publishing Group
for 7th-12th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Mission to Mars
Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Stage 2
by Franklyn M. Branley, Illustrated by True Kelley, Foreword by Neil Armstrong
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Space Race & Exploration (Location: HISA-20SPR)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Missionary Patriarch
by John G. Paton
from Vision Forum
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Modern Rhymes: Ancient Greece
Modern Rhymes About Ancient Times
by Susan Altman, Susan Lechner
from Children's Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
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