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Literature by Period

In the West we have what is called a teleological view of history. That means that the scope of human civilization and events, from its earliest time till now, is actually going someplace. Whether that place is Ragnarok, Armageddon, the New Jerusalem, or an alien apocalypse depends on which worldview you're espousing, but it's hard for people with European heritage to think in terms of the circularity of history, or that history is going nowhere, just on an on and on into the infinite future.

As Christians, we believe history is on its way to Christ. That may be a little simplistic, but ultimately God has ordered and guided history according to His will for it, and its completion is entirely in His hands....but only after the intended progression of events has been completed. If this is true, history can be seen, not merely as endless repetition, but as a line drawn between point A and some as yet indistinguishable (from a human perspective) point B.

The literature of any period, therefore, can only be understood by the particular historical stage and cultural context in which it was written. If history isn't stagnant, literature can't be either, and any writer is going to reflect (consciously or unconsciously) the attitudes prevalent around him. If you didn't know Cervantes was mocking the "courtly love" and chivalric ideals of Medieval Europe, Don Quixote wouldn't make near as much sense. A lot of Shakespeare's references are to cultural customs he witnessed. Charles Dickens includes so many scenes of social injustice because the England of his day was rife with oppression and mistreatment.

This intersection of history and literature isn't one-directional. To really understand history, it's essential to read the literature of the day. Sure, a history book published last year about the Roman Empire might yield plenty of good information, but reading Caesar's Gallic Wars will not only offer a firsthand perspective, it will also reveal a lot of contemporary attitudes most historians find it difficult to capture. A list of similar examples would require several books, and believe me, they exist.

We've chosen specific periods as categories both to reflect the generally accepted important literary and historical epochs, and based on how many books from each period we carry. If your favorite period isn't immediately recognizable on the list, you might just have to look a little deeper—for instance, we don't have a category for books written in China during the Boxer Rebellion, but that doesn't mean we don't have books that meet that criteria. Okay, we don't, but we have plenty of other titles representing the full scope of literary history from the ancients to the postmodern age.

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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Active Filters: 9th grade (Ages 14-15), Hardcover, Used Books & Materials
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
by Jules Verne, Translated by Lewis Page Mercier, edited by Allen Grove
from Chartwell Books
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Macmillan Classics
by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by John Tenniel
from Macmillan
Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
All the World's A Stage
by William Shakespeare
from Fulcrum Group
for 4th-Adult
in Shakespeare Materials (Location: LIR-SHA)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
from World Publishing Company
for 9th-Adult
1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
At Bertram's Hotel
A Miss Marple Mystery #10
by Agatha Christie
from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Authoress of the Odyssey
by Samuel Butler, introduction by David Grene
from University of Chicago
for 8th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
by Benvenuto Cellini
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Autumn's Brightness
by Daisy Newman
Special Family Bookshelf Edition, 1989 from Macmillan
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Beejum Book
by Alice O. Howell
Revised
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Lost Tales 2
by J. R. R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Mythology, Faërie for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Lost Tales Part I
History of Middle-Earth Volume 1
by J. R. R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien
Book Club Edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 7th-12th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Bull from the Sea
by Mary Renault
from Pantheon Books
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Carl Sandburg
by Milton Meltzer
from Twenty-first Century Books
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Collected Poems of Robert Service
by Robert W. Service
1966 Edition from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Conrad Argosy
by Joseph Conrad; with woodcuts by Hans A. Mueller
from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Cross Creek
by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Cunning Little Vixen
by Rudolf Tesnohlidek
First Edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Cyrano de Bergerac
by Edmond Rostand, translated by Brian Hooker
1963 Reprint from Heinemann Educational Books
Drama for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Egg and I
by Betty MacDonald
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
Biography for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
Emma
by Jane Austen, illustrated by Niroot Puttapipat with an inroduction by Deirdre Le Faye
from The Folio Society
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$75.00 (1 in stock)
Esther's Gift
by Jan Karon
from Viking Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Fables of Aesop
by Aesop, illustrated by John Tenniel
from Book-of-the-Month Club
for 7th-12th grade
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Far Lands
by James Norman Hall
from Little, Brown & Company
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Five Sons of King Pandu
by Elizabeth Seeger
from William R. Scott Inc.
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Full Cupboard of Life
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #5
by Alexander McCall Smith
1st edition from Pantheon Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Gift of the Magi
by O. Henry, illustrated by Kevin King
from Simon and Schuster
for 4th-10th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Golden Age
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Maxfield Parrish
from Ten Speed Press
for 6th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Good Samaritan Strikes Again
by Patrick F. McManus
from Henry Holt and Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Green Light
by Lloyd C. Douglas
from Houghton Mifflin
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Histories of Shakespeare
by William Shakespeare, edited by Peter Alexander and illustrated by John Farleigh
from Heritage Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Hundred Days
Aubrey/Maturin #19
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Illustrated Wordsworth's Guide to the Lakes
by William Wordsworth, Edited by Peter Bicknell
from Congdon & Weed Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in Great Britain / England (Location: HISMC-BRIT)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Josephus: Complete Works
Nelson's Super Value Series
by Flavius Josephus, translated to William Whiston
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Josephus: The Essential Writings
by Flavius Josephus, translated by Paul L. Maier
from Kregel Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$21.99 $14.00 (1 in stock)
Kalahari Typing School for Men
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #4
by Alexander McCall Smith
from Pantheon Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Kidnapped
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
from Atheneum
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$14.50 (1 in stock)
Kidnapped
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth and Graham Oakley
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
1st edition from Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Lady of the Lake
The Students' Series of English Classics
by Sir Walter Scott, edited with introduction and notes by James Arthur Tufts
from Leach, Shewell & Sanborn
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Lays of Beleriand
by J. R. R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien
1st edition 1st printing from Houghton Mifflin
Mythology, Faërie for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Washington Irving
from Reader's Digest
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Life on the Mississippi
Signet Classics
by Mark Twain
from Harper & Brothers
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Little Prince
by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
1st edition from Harcourt
for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harcourt
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Lost Road and Other Writings
History of Middle-Earth Volume 5
by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien
First American, First Printing from Houghton Mifflin
for 9th-Adult
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$70.00 (1 in stock)
Map That Changed the World
by Simon Winchester
1st edition from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Murder of Roger Ackroyd
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #4
by Agatha Christie
from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Murder on the Orient Express
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #10
by Agatha Christie
Reprint from Black Dog & Leventhal
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
My Cousin Rachel
by Daphne du Maurier
from Doubleday & Company
Mystery/Suspense for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mysterious Island
by Jules Verne, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Science Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Old Curiosity Shop
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Charles Dickens
from Reader's Digest
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Plutarch's Lives Volume I
by Plutarch, translated by John Dryden
from Modern Library
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$20.00 $15.00 (1 in stock)
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen, illustrated by Niroot Puttapipat with an inroduction by Deirdre Le Faye
from The Folio Society
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$95.00 (1 in stock)
Ramona
by Helen Jackson
from Little, Brown & Company
for 9th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Ransom of Red Chief and Other Stories
by O. Henry
from Gramercy Books
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Red-Headed League and The Adventure of the Speckled Band
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, illustrated by Paul Spina
from Franklin Watts
for 6th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Requiem for Love
by Calvin Miller
from Word Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
from Heritage Press
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Secret Lives of Walter Mitty and of James Thurber
by James Thurber, illustrated by Marc Simont
1st edition from Collins Design
for 6th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Selected Prose of Robert Frost
by Robert Frost, edited by Hyde Cox and Edward Connery Lathem
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Shaping of Middle-Earth
History of Middle-Earth Volume 4
by J.R.R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien
First American Edition, First Printing from Houghton Mifflin
for 8th-Adult
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$50.00 (1 in stock)
Shepherd of the Hills
by Harold Bell Wright
from Shepherd of the Hills Historical Society
for 9th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Shepherd of the Hills
by Harold Bell Wright; illustrated by F. Graham Cootes
from A. L. Burt Company
for 9th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Shiloh: A Novel
by Shelby Foote
from Barnes & Noble
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Shropshire Lad
The Living Library
by A. E. Housman, Illustrated by Jeanne Edwards
from World Publishing Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Hitchhiker's Trilogy #4
by Douglas Adams
from Crown Publishers
Humorous Science Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Tales of the Alhambra
by Washington Irving
3rd edition from Club Everest
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
The Hurricane
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Little, Brown & Company
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Tom Sawyer Abroad and Other Stories
by Mark Twain
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Tramp Abroad
by Mark Twain, Illustrated by David Knight, Introduction by Edward Wagenknecht
from Heritage Press
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Trial by Terror
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Tristram
by Edwin Arlington Robinson
from Macmillan
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Wright Brothers
by David McCullough
First American Condition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.00 (2 in stock)
Yearling
by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings & N. C. Wyeth
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Yearling
by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, foreword by Patricia Reilly Giff
from Aladdin Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
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