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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Accidental Voyage
Mr. Pipes Series #4
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Across Five Aprils
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Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
1965 Newbery Honor Book
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Across Five Aprils
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1965 Newbery Honor Book
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Adam of the Road
Puffin Newbery Library
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from Puffin Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
1943 Newbery Medal winner
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Adam of the Road
Puffin Modern Classics
by Elizabeth Gray
from Puffin Books
Historical Fiction for 3rd-8th grade
1943 Newbery Medal winner
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Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
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Puffin Classics
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Sterling Classics
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Windermere Readers #10
by Hector Malot, translated by Gil Meynier, adapted by Edith Heal
1954 edition from Rand McNally
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Puffin Classics
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Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Puffin Classics
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After the War
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Against the World
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Biography for 5th-8th grade
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Al Capone Does My Shirts
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Reprint from Puffin Books
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2005 Newbery Honor Book
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Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #6
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All Aboard for Freedom
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All He Knew
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Amos Fortune, Free Man
by Elizabeth Yates, illustrated by Nora S. Unwin
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1951 Newbery Medal winner
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Anna of Byzantium
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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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Ark, The
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2021 Revision from Purple House Press
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Augustine Came to Kent
Bethlehem Books Living History Library
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Shakespeare/Drama for Children for 4th-8th grade
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Struggle for Freedom Series #3
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Signet Classics
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Bethlehem Books Living History Library
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Beric the Briton - MP3 CD
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Betty Before X
by Ilyasah Shabazz with Renee Watson
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Between the Forest and the Hills
Bethlehem Books Adventure Library
by Ann Lawrence
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Humorous Fantasy for 7th-10th grade
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$9.50
Beware, Princess Elizabeth
A Young Royals Book
by Carolyn Meyer
from Harcourt
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Beyond the Desert Gate
Bethlehem Books Young Adult Bookshelf
by Mary Ray
2nd edition from Bethlehem Books
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Beyond the Sacred Page
Book of Books #2
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from Zondervan
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Bible Smuggler
by Louise Vernon
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Big John's Secret
Bethlehem Books Living History Library
by Eleanore Jewett
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Dover Evergreen Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Dover Publications
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Black Arrow
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
from SeaWolf Press
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Black Falcon
by Armstrong Sperry
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Black Fox of Lorne
by Marguerite de Angeli
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by Thomas B. Costain
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Black Ships Before Troy
by Rosemary Sutcliff & Alan Lee
from Frances Lincoln
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
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Black Ships Before Troy
by Rosemary Sutcliff
from Laurel-Leaf Books
Greek Mythology for 4th-8th grade
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Blades of Freedom
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #10
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
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$14.99
Blood on the River: James Town, 1607
by Elisa Carbone
Reprint from Puffin Books
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$8.99
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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Bold Journey
by Charles Bohner
from Sandpiper Books
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Bold Journey
by Charles Bohner
from Houghton Mifflin
Non-fiction for 5th-8th grade
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Bonanza Girl
by Patricia Beatty
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
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$6.00 (4 in stock)
Bonnie Prince Charlie
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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$20.00
Book of Marvels: Marvels of the Occident
by Richard Halliburton
from Living Book Press
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$15.29
Book of Marvels: Marvels of the Orient
by Richard Halliburton
from Living Book Press
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$23.79
Book of Marvels: Marvels of the Orient
by Richard Halliburton
from Living Book Press
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$15.29
Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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Boris
by Jaap Ter Haar
from Inheritance Publications
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Borrowed House
Bethlehem Books Young Adult Bookshelf
by Hilda Van Stockum
from Purple House Press
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
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$13.95
Boy and the Samurai
by Erik Christian Haugaard
Reissue from HMH Books for Young Readers
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
from Corona Publishing Co.
Historical fiction for 4th-9th grade
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Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
from Veritas Press
Historical fiction for 4th-9th grade
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$19.00
Boy of the Pyramids
by Ruth Fosdick Jones
from Purple House Press
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$9.99
Boys in the Boat adapted for Young Readers
by Daniel James Brown, adapted by Gregory Mone
from Penguin Putnam
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in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$17.99
Boys in the Boat adapted for Young Readers
by Daniel James Brown, adapted by Gregory Mone
from Penguin Putnam
for 6th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$11.99
Brethren
by H. Rider Haggard
from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.75 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Bronze Bow
by Elizabeth George Speare
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
1962 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
Bull Run
by Paul Fleischman, David Frampton (Woodcuts)
2nd edition from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Burning of Rome
by Alfred J. Church
from Yesterday's Classics
for 6th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95
By England's Aid
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
$20.00
By Pike and Dyke
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
$20.00
By Pike and Dyke - Unit Study Guide
by Rick Medlin
from Preston Speed
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
$7.00 (2 in stock)
By Right of Conquest - MP3 CD
by Jim Hodges
from Jim Hodges Productions
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Henty Audio Books (Location: CD-Henty)
$14.00
By Sheer Pluck
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th Grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
$20.00
Calico Bush
by Rachel Field
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1932 Newbery Honor Book
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$7.99 $4.00 (2 in stock)
Calico Captive
by Elizabeth George Speare
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
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$7.99
Canadian Summer
Mitchells Series #2
by Hilda Van Stockum
from Bethlehem Books
Family Stories for 4th-8th grade
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$16.95
Captain Blood
Penguin Classics
by Rafael Sabatini
from Penguin Classics
Historical Romance for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.00
Captain, My Captain
by Deborah Meroff
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 8th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95
Captive
by Scott O'Dell
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 5th-8th grade
Hans Christian Anderson Award
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
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$9.99
Castle Diary
by Richard Platt
from Candlewick Press
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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Catherine, Called Birdy
by Karen Cushman
Reprint from Houghton Mifflin
Realistic Fiction for 4th-9th grade
1995 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
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Catherine, Called Birdy
by Karen Cushman
Reprint from Houghton Mifflin
Realistic Fiction for 4th-9th grade
1995 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99
Cedric the Forester
by Bernard Marshall
from CreateSpace
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1922 Newbery Honor Book
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Chariot in the Sky
Land of the Free Series
by Arna Bontemps, illustrated by Cyrus Le Roy Baldridge
1st edition from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$35.00 (1 in stock)
Children of Odin
by Padraic Colum
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$10.99
Children of Odin
by Padraic Colum, illustrated by Willy Pogany
from Macmillan
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$40.00 (1 in stock)
Children's Homer
by Padraic Colum & Willy Pogany
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$10.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
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