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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A Weed Is a Flower
by Aliki
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Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Lewis & Clark
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Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Robert Fulton
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Adventures of Richard Wagner
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Africa Is Not A Country
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Ahoy There, Little Polar Bear
by Hans de Beer
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AIO Imagination Station Book #01
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Akiak: A Tale From the Iditarod
by Robert J. Blake
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Alexander Calder
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Alexander Graham Bell
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Alexander Graham Bell
National Geographic Kids Level 2
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All Aboard!
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Always Inventing
by Tom L. Matthews
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Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin
by James Cross Giblin
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2001 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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Amelia to Zora
1st edition from Charlesbridge
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Ancient Civilizations: China
Ancient Civilizations
by Valerie Bodden
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Arctic Son
by Jean Craighead George, illustrated by Wendell Minor
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Around the World in a Hundred Years
by Jean Fritz
from Penguin Putnam
Biography for 2nd-5th grade
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Art Coloring Book
by Sarah Courtauld
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Art Smart: Spot the Details and Find Out the Facts
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Balto and the Great Race
Totally True Adventures
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Beatrice's Goat
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Beatrice's Goat
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Beethoven Lives Upstairs
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Before Columbus
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Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin
by Marguerite Henry & Wesley Dennis
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Big-Enough Anna
by Pam Flowers
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Book About Christopher Columbus
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Brave Clara Barton
Step Into Reading Level 3
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Brides from Around the World - Paper Dolls
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Building an Igloo
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Changing Times: Health & Disease
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Charlotte in Giverny
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Chasing Space for Young Readers
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Choppers!
Step into Reading Level 4
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Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters
by Fredrick & Patricia McKissack
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1995 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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Coloring Book of Great Explorers
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Columbus
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$15.26
Columbus Discovers America - Coloring Book
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Country Artist
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Biography for Preschool-3rd Grade
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Cross-Section Trains
Look Inside Cross-Sections
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Cycle of Rice, Cycle of Life
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Day of Ahmed's Secret
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Discovering Great Artists
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Discovery of the Americas
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DK Biography: Marie Curie
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Draw 50 Boats, Ships, Trucks, and Trains
by Lee Ames
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Duke Ellington
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Duke Ellington
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Dumpling Soup
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Early Civlizations: Viking Life
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Eat My Dust! Henry Ford's First Race
Step Into Reading Level 3
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El Greco
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Elizabeth Fry
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Encounter
by Jane Yolen
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Eric the Red & Leif the Lucky
by Barbara Schiller
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Exploration and Conquest
The American Story Series
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Explore South America
Explore the Continents
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Explorers News
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Famous Children: Brahms
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Famous Children: Haydn
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Famous Children: Mozart
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First Flight
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Five Notable Inventors
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Franz Schubert and His Merry Friends
by Opal Wheeler & Sybil Deucher
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Frederic Chopin, Son of Poland: Early Years
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Frederic Chopin, Son of Poland: Later Years
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George Washington Carver
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George Washington Carver: The Peanut Wizard
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Germ Hunter
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Giants of Science: Isaac Newton
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Girls Think of Everything
by Catherine Thimmesh
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Glorious Flight
by Martin & Alice Provensen
from Puffin Books
Historical Non-Fiction/Picture Books for 1st-3rd grade
1984 Caldecott Medal winner
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Grandfather Counts
by Alfredo Schifini, Deborah J Short, Josefina Villamil Tinajero
Reprint from Lee & Low Books
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Great Medieval Projects You Can Build Yourself
by Kris Bordessa
from Nomad Press
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$10.50 (1 in stock)
Greek and Roman Eras
Journey Through History
by Carme Peris, Glòria & Oriol Vergés
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Handel at the Court of Kings
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Helicopters
Usborne Beginners Plus
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Hidden Figures: Young Reader's Edition
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History Smashers: Plagues and Pandemics
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Holling Clancy Holling's Stories from Many Lands
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$12.74
Horses in Battle - Coloring Book
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House on Maple Street
by Bonnie Pryor
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How a Book is Made
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How a Book is Made
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How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World
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from Dragonfly Books
Humor for 1st-3rd grade
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How We Crossed the West
by Rosalyn Schanzer
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Ice Wreck
Stepping Stones: True Stories
by Lucille Recht Penner
Reissue from Random House Books for Young Readers
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If You Lived in the Alaska Territory
by Nancy Smiler Levinson
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If You Were Me and Lived In... Australia
A Child's Introduction to Culture around the World Volume 8
by Carole P. Roman
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If You Were Me and Lived in... China
An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time
by Carole P. Roman
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$9.34
If You Were Me and Lived in... Colonial America
by Carole P. Roman
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in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
If You Were Me and Lived in... Egypt
A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World Volume 17
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If You Were Me and Lived in... Elizabethan England
An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time Volume 3
by Carole P. Roman
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by Carole P. Roman
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by Carole P. Roman
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If You Were Me and Lived in... India
A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World Volume 7
by Carole P. Roman
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If You Were Me and Lived in... Italy
by Carole P. Roman
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