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Cultural History

You'll often hear proponents of whole-book education methods talk about the benefit of learning history through literature. They aren't talking about the kind of history you might learn in a textbook—for them, knowing the dates of the Thirty Years' War or the name of the first prime minister of Australia isn't that important. The kind of history you'll learn in novels and diaries and essays is cultural history.

How people live, what they learn in school, the weapons they use, their religion, how they perceive their role in the world: these are all elements of culture that fiction and private documents reveal much better and more thoroughly than books simply detailing facts. Source documents are the product as much of the culture in which they're written, after all, as they are the result of the authors' own invention.

Books simply about the customs and daily life of a people group do have their place, too. You might not have as intimate a portrait of Victorian England after reading What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew as you would after reading Great Expectations, but you'll learn plenty. Sometimes you just need the straightforward facts, and at times like those novels are not your friends.

The real question for many, however, isn't how do I learn about different cultures?, but WHY should I learn about different cultures? Well, there's no law saying you have to, but aside from the fun you can have doing so, learning about foreign or lost cultures is one way to better understand your own place in the grand scheme of things.

It's not that the Chinese New Year festival will shed any great light on your own situation, but the deeper you study the cultural contexts around the globe, the more you realize how similar people really are. Understanding connections is one of the great advantages of a well-rounded education; the connections between people a solid grounding in cultural history can offer are especially poignant.

Of course, reading about the origins of your own culture will help you understand why you do things the way you do, why you think the way you do, why the people around you are the way they are. As Christians, this knowledge can help us share the Gospel easier than if we knew nothing of the background of the people we try to reach, and that is the one reason for studying cultural history that trumps all the others.

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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663 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 3rd grade (Ages 8-9)
3-D Engineering
from Nomad Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Architecture and Sculpture (Location: ELE-ARC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Abraham Lincoln & His Family - Paper Dolls
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Dover Paper Dolls (Location: COL-DOLL)
$9.99
Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Robert Fulton
by Jamie Aramini
Fir from Geography Matters
for 2nd-4th grade
in Geography Matters products (Location: GEO-GEOM)
Adventures of Richard Wagner
by Opal Wheeler
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
Africa Is Not A Country
by Margy Burns Knight
unknown from Millbrook Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Africa (Location: HISMC-AFR)
Africa Is Not a Country
by Margy Burns Knight
from Millbrook Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Africa (Location: HISMC-AFR)
AIO Imagination Station Book #21
by Marianne Hering
from Focus on the Family
for 1st-3rd grade
in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
Aircraft - Coloring Book
Educational Read & Color Books
by Peter & Linda Spizzirri
from Spizzirri Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Transportation Coloring Books (Location: COL-TRANS)
$3.95
Airplanes of the Second World War - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Carlo Demand
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Transportation Coloring Books (Location: COL-TRANS)
$5.99 $2.50 (1 in stock)
Airplanes of World War I - Coloring Book
by Carlo Demand
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Transportation Coloring Books (Location: COL-TRANS)
$5.99
Albert Einstein: Young Thinker
by Marie Hammontree
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Alexander Calder
by Mike Venezia
from Children's Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
Alexander Graham Bell
by Elizabeth MacLeod
from Kids Can Press
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
All About Aviation
All About Books #51
by Robert D. Loomis
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About Famous Inventors and Their Inventions
All About Books #18
by Fletcher Pratt
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All the Children of the World
by Karen Mezek Leimert
First Edition from Nelsonword Publishing Group
for 1st-3rd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Alma and How She Got Her Name
by Juana Martine-Neal
from Candlewick Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Always Inventing
by Tom L. Matthews
from National Geographic
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.99
Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin
by James Cross Giblin
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-4th grade
2001 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.99
Amazing Mind of Granville Woods
by Maggie Felsch; illustrated by Kessler Garrity
from The Good and the Beautiful
for 2nd-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Amelia Earhart - Coloring Book
by Muriel Earhart Morrissey
from Bellerophon Books
for 3rd-7th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Amelia Earhart: Young Aviator
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Beatrice Gormley
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
$7.99
Amelia to Zora
1st edition from Charlesbridge
for 3rd-5th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$7.95
America - with CD
from Diana Waring Presents
for 1st-6th grade
in Diana Waring History Revealed (Location: OHIS-DWHR)
America Travels
by Alice Dalgliesh
from Macmillan
for 1st-3rd grade
in Cultural History (Location: HISMC-CUL)
American Art Bingo Volume I
by Kristin Draeger
from ArtK12
for 3rd-10th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$16.96
American Art History I - Bundle
by Kristin Draeger
from ArtK12
for 3rd-10th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
American Art History II - Bundle
by Kristin Draeger
from ArtK12
for 3rd-10th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
American Art History Volume I
by Kristin Draeger
from ArtK12
for 3rd-10th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$33.96
American Art History Volume II
by Kristin Draeger
from ArtK12
for 3rd-10th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$33.96 $27.00 (1 in stock)
American Family of the Civil War Era - Paper Dolls
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-5th grade
in Dover Paper Dolls (Location: COL-DOLL)
$11.99
American Family of the Colonial Era - Paper Dolls
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-5th grade
in Dover Paper Dolls (Location: COL-DOLL)
American Muscle Cars - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Bruce LaFontaine
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Transportation Coloring Books (Location: COL-TRANS)
$5.99
American Pioneer Family - Paper Dolls
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-5th grade
in Dover Paper Dolls (Location: COL-DOLL)
American Sailing Ships - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Peter F. Copeland
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Transportation Coloring Books (Location: COL-TRANS)
$5.99
Ancient Civilizations: China
Ancient Civilizations
by Valerie Bodden
Reprint from Creative Paperbooks
for 3rd-6th grade
in China (Location: HISMC-CHI)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Ancient Egyptian Costumes - Paper Dolls
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 1st-3rd grade
in Dover Paper Dolls (Location: COL-DOLL)
Ancient Egyptian Fashions - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Costume & Fashion Coloring Books (Location: COL-FAS)
$4.99
Ancient World
by John Haywood
from Quercus
for 2nd-5th grade
in Ancient History (Location: HISW-ANC)
Angel of Mercy
by Rachel Baker
from Julian Messner
for 3rd-7th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Antique Airplanes - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Peter F. Copeland
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Transportation Coloring Books (Location: COL-TRANS)
$5.99
Antique Automobiles - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Clarence P. Hornung
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Transportation Coloring Books (Location: COL-TRANS)
$4.99
Antique Locomotives - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Tre Tryckare Company
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Transportation Coloring Books (Location: COL-TRANS)
$4.99
Architects
Colonial American Craftsmen
by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-6th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
Armor
Usborne Beginners Level 2
by Catriona Clarke
from Usborne
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Usborne Beginners (Location: SCI-USBREA)
Art Coloring Book
by Sarah Courtauld
from Usborne
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Usborne Activities (Location: ACT-USB)
$5.40 (1 in stock)
Art of the New American Nation
by Shirley Glubok
from Macmillan
for 3rd-6th grade
in New Nation (1783-1800) (Location: HISA-18NN)
Art of the Southeastern Indians
by Shirley Glubok
from Macmillan
for 3rd-6th grade
in Native Americans (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Art of the Spanish in the United States and Puerto Rico
by Shirley Glubok
from Macmillan
for 2nd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Art Smart: Spot the Details and Find Out the Facts
Act from Dover Publications
for 1st-7th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
ArtWorks for Kids
by Lori Schue
from Evan-Moor Educational Publishers
for 1st-6th grade
in Evan-Moor Art & Drawing (Location: ZCLE-EM)
Automobiles - Coloring Book
Educational Read & Color Books
by Peter & Linda Spizzirri
from Spizzirri Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Transportation Coloring Books (Location: COL-TRANS)
Baby Blessing
by Welleran Poltarnees
from Laughing Elephant
for Kindergarten-Adult
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Bach Book
by Victoria Tierney & Crystal Landucci
from Oregon Coast Music Association
for 2nd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Bach's Goldberg Variations
by Anna Harwell Celenza & JoAnn E. Kitchel
from Charlesbridge
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$16.95
Beatrice's Goat
by Page McBrier
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Beethoven
by Reba Paeff Mirsky
from Follett
for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Beethoven Lives Upstairs
by Barbara Nichol
for 3rd-8th grade
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Beethoven Lives Upstairs - CD
from Classical Kids
for Kindergarten-8th grade
in Music CDs (Location: CD)
Beethoven's Heroic Symphony (Once Upon a Masterpiece)
from Charlesbridge
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$16.95
Beethoven's Wig 2 - CD
from Rounder Records
for 3rd-8th grade
in Music CDs (Location: CD)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Beethoven's Wig 3 - CD
from Rounder Records
for 3rd-8th grade
in Music CDs (Location: CD)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Beethoven's Wig 4 - CD
from Rounder Records
for 3rd-8th grade
in Music CDs (Location: CD)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Beethoven/Haydn Lapbook Set
by Opal Wheeler & Sybil Deucher
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$9.00 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Benjamin Franklin
by R. Conrad Stein
from Rand McNally
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (2 in stock)
Benjamin Franklin: Printer, Scientist, Author, and Diplomat
Spirit of America: Our People
by Ann Heinrichs
from Child's World
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Benjamin Franklin: Young Printer
by Augusta Stevenson
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
$7.99 $4.00 (2 in stock)
Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin
by Marguerite Henry & Wesley Dennis
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$6.39
Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin
by Marguerite Henry & Wesley Dennis
from Bobbs-Merril Co
Biography for 1st-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Berean Builders Science Through History - Elementary Boxed Set
by Jay Wile
for 2nd-6th grade
in Berean Builders Science (Location: SCICUR-BER)
$215.60
Best of Haydn
from My Father's World
Music history CD for 3rd-8th grade
in Music Masters CDs (Location: CD-MUMA)
Best of Schubert - CD
from My Father's World
for 3rd-8th grade
in Music Masters CDs (Location: CD-MUMA)
Best of Tchaikovsky
from My Father's World
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Music CDs (Location: CD)
Better Mousetraps
by Nathan Aaseng
from Lerner Publishing Group
for 3rd-6th grade
in Inventions & Discoveries (Location: SCI-INV)
Bible Picture Portfolios - Genesis
Bible Picture Portfolios
by Emily Kiser
from Simply Charlotte Mason
for 1st-12th grade
in Simply Charlotte Mason (Location: CUR-SCM)
Biography of Tea
by Carrie Gleason
from Crabtree Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Food & Farming Around the World (Location: HISMC-FOOD)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Boy Who Loved Music
by David Lasker
1st edition from Viking Press
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Boyhoods of Great Composers
Young Readers Guides to Music
by Catherine Gough, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone
1961 Reprint from Henry Z. Walck, Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Brahms/Schubert Lapbook Set
by Opal Wheeler & Sybil Deucher
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$9.00 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Brave Harriet
by Marissa Moss
from Harcourt Children's Books
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Bravo! Brava!
by Anne Siberell
from Oxford University
for 3rd-8th grade
in Opera & Choral Music (Location: ELE-MUSOP)
$24.00 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Brides from Around the World - Paper Dolls
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-5th grade
in Dover Paper Dolls (Location: COL-DOLL)
Brother Hugo and the Bear
by Katy Beebe
from Eerdmans
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$17.99
Byzantine Fashions - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Costume & Fashion Coloring Books (Location: COL-FAS)
$4.99 $2.50 (1 in stock)
Cabinetmakers
Colonial American Craftsmen
by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-6th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
Camille and the Sunflowers
by Laurence Anholt
1st edition from Barron's
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Camille Pissarro
by Alix Wood
from Windmill Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Carl Larsson's A Family
by Carl Larsson and Lennart Rudstrom
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 3rd-Adult
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
Carl Larsson's A Farm
by Carl Larsson and Lennart Rudstrom
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 3rd-Adult
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
Carl Larsson's A Home
by Carl Larsson and Lennart Rudstrom
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 3rd-Adult
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Carl Linnaeus
Great Minds of Science
by Margaret Anderson
from Enslow
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Cars - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Steven James Petruccio
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Transportation Coloring Books (Location: COL-TRANS)
$3.99
Cavalier and Puritan Fashions - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Costume & Fashion Coloring Books (Location: COL-FAS)
$4.99
Celtic Fashions - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Costume & Fashion Coloring Books (Location: COL-FAS)
$4.99
Central Pacific Railroad
Cornerstones of Freedom Second Series
by Clark J. Evans
from Children's Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Changing Times: Health & Disease
by Kathy Elgin
1st edition from Compass Point Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in History of Science & Mathematics (Location: SCI-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Charlotte in Giverny
by Joan MacPhail Knight
Reprint from Chronicle Books
for 3rd-8th grade
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
Child's Introduction to Art
by Heather Alexander, illustrated by Meredith Hamilton
from Black Dog & Leventhal
for 3rd-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Introduction to the Orchestra
by Robert Levine
First Revised Edition from Black Dog & Leventhal
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$19.99
Child's Introduction to the World
by Heather Alexander
from Black Dog & Leventhal
for 3rd-5th grade
in Introductory Geography (Location: GEO-INTRO)
$19.99
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