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
by Doug Bond
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Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
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Against the World
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Al Capone Does My Shirts
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2005 Newbery Honor Book
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Andie's Moon
Historical House: 1969
by Linda Newbery
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Angel Knew Papa and the Dog
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Anna and the King (adapted)
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1952 Newbery Honor Book
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by Pilar Molina Llorente
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Arthur Erskine's Story
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Augustine Came to Kent
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Totally True Adventures
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Baseball Saved Us
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Bat 6
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Hawk and the Dove Series #8
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by Marguerite Henry & Wesley Dennis
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Bethlehem Books Young Adult Bookshelf
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Bethlehem Books Living History Library
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Birchbark House
by Louise Erdrich
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Bite of the Gold Bug
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Black Fox of Lorne
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Monroe Family Chronicles #1
by Doug Wilson
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Blood on the River: James Town, 1607
by Elisa Carbone
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for 4th-8th grade
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$8.99
Blue Birds
by Caroline Starr Rose
Dgs from Puffin Books
Narrative Poetry / Novel-In-Verse for 4th-7th grade
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Bold Journey
by Charles Bohner
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Bold Journey
by Charles Bohner
from Houghton Mifflin
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Book About Christopher Columbus
by Ruth Belov Gross, Illustrated by Syd Hoff
from Scholastic Inc.
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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Boris
by Jaap Ter Haar
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Boston Jane
by Jennifer L. Holm
from Scholastic Reference
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Boy and the Samurai
by Erik Christian Haugaard
Reissue from HMH Books for Young Readers
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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 Old Prague
by S. Ish-Kishor
from Dover Publications
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Boy of Old Prague
by Shulamith Ish-Kishor
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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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$11.99
Brady
by Jean Fritz
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Breaking Stalin's Nose
by Eugene Yelchin
from Square Fish Publishing
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2012 Newbery Honor Book
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Breath of Peace
Hawk and the Dove Series #7
by Penelope Wilcock
from Lion Publishing
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Modern Library Exploration
by Tim Severin
from Modern Library
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Brethren
by H. Rider Haggard
from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult
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Brit. Lit. Volume 9
by P. G. Wodehouse
from Logos School
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$12.00
Bronze Bow
by Elizabeth George Speare
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
1962 Newbery Medal winner
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$9.99
Brother's Keeper
by Julie Lee
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Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis
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2000 Newbery Medal winner
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Bull Run
by Paul Fleischman, David Frampton (Woodcuts)
2nd edition from Scholastic Inc.
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
By Far Euphrates
by Deborah Alcock
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 9th-12th grade
in Inheritance Fiction (Location: FIC-WH03)
$14.95
By the Shores of Silver Lake
Little House Series #5
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
1940 Newbery Honor Book
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$9.99
Caine Mutiny
by Herman Wouk
from Back Bay Books
for 10th-Adult
1952 Pulitzer Prize Winner
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
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's Dog
by Roland Smith
from Harcourt
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$8.99
Captain, My Captain
by Deborah Meroff
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 8th-10th grade
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$14.95
Captive Treasure
by Milly Howard
from Bob Jones University Press
Realistic Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
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$6.99
Carolina's Courage
by Elizabeth Yates
from Bob Jones University Press
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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$10.00 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Carpenter of Zerbst
by P. de Zeeuw
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
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$9.95
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
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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
Cecily's Portrait
Historical House: 1895
by Adele Geras
from Educational Development Corporation
for 3rd-6th grade
in Series Books (Location: SER-MISC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Charis in the World of Wonders
by Marly Youmans
from Ignatius Press
for 10th-Adult
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$17.95
Charlotte Sometimes
by Penelope Farmer
from Yearling
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Children of Odin
by Padraic Colum
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$10.99
Children of the Covered Wagon
by Mary Jane Carr
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 3rd-5th grade
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$16.75
Children's Homer
by Padraic Colum & Willy Pogany
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$10.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Children's Homer
by Padraic Colum
from Simon and Schuster
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$4.50 (2 in stock)
Children's Homer
by Padraic Colum
from Simon and Brown
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Chu Ju's House
by Gloria Whelan
Reprint from HarperCollins
for 5th-8th grade
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$7.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Classic Myths to Read Aloud
by William F. Russell
from Three Rivers Press
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$16.00 $9.50 (1 in stock)
Clearing Weather
by Cornelia Meigs
Repint from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
1929 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Cleopatra
by Diane Stanley & Peter Vennema
from William Morrow & Company
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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Code Name Verity
by Elizabeth Wein
from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 9th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.99
Come On, Seabiscuit!
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
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Coming Evil
by Vivian Vande Velde
from Sandpiper Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
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$13.95
Commodore Hornblower
Hornblower Series #9
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical fiction for 10th-Adult
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$16.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Penguin Classics
by Mark Twain
from Penguin Classics
Social Satire/Comedy for 8th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00
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