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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: 10th grade (Ages 15-16), Trade Paperback, Used Books & Materials
1984
by George Orwell
from Harcourt
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00 $11.00 (1 in stock)
Aeschylus I: The Oresteia (old)
The Complete Greek Tragedies
by Aeschylus (translation by Richmond Lattimore)
from University of Chicago
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
in Clearance: Literature (Location: ZCLE-LIT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Aeschylus' Oresteia
Penguin Classics
by Aeschylus (translation by Robert Fagles)
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$17.00 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Aeschylus' Oresteian Trilogy
Penguin Classics
by Aeschylus, translated by Phillip Vellacott
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$13.00 $7.00 (1 in stock)
Alas, Babylon
by Pat Frank
from HarperCollins
Apocalyptic novel for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
American Childhood
by Annie Dillard
from Harper & Row
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry
by Tony Barnstone & Chou Ping, eds.
from Anchor Books
for 9th-12th grade
in Poetry Anthologies (Location: POET-ANTH)
$17.00 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Atlas Shrugged
by Ayn Rand
Reprint from Plume Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Charles G. Finney
by Charles G. Finney
from Bethany House
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Baronet's Song
by George MacDonald, edited by Michael R. Phillips
1st THUS from Bethany House
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Beowulf
by Anonymous (translation by Frederick Rebsamen)
from HarperCollins
Medieval Poetic Epic for 8th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$9.99 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Beowulf
by Anonymous, translated by Douglas Wilson
from Canon Press
for 7th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$14.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Bernard Shaw's Plays
by George Bernard Shaw, edited by Warren S. Smith
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Best of Father Brown
by G. K. Chesterton
from Everyman's Library
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.95 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Black Like Me
by John Howard Griffin & Robert Bonazzi
35th anniversary from Signet Classics
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Black Odyssey
by Mary Cable
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Blue Like Jazz
by Donald Miller
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00 (3 in stock)
Blue Shoes and Happiness
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #7
by Alexander McCall Smith
Edition from Anchor Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (2 in stock)
Bondage of the Will
by Martin Luther
from Revell Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
Book of Margery Kempe
by Margery Kempe
1st edition from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Brass Check: A Study of American Journalism
by Upton Sinclair, introduction by Robert W. McChesney and Ben Scott
from University of Illinois Press
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
from HarperCollins
Dystopian Literature for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99 $7.00 (8 in stock)
Burial at Thebes
by Sophocles, translated by Seamus Heaney
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Canterbury Quintet
by Geoffrey Chaucer
from Little Leaf Press
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer (edited by Kolve V.A. & Glending Olson)
2nd edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Chosen
by Chaim Potok
from Simon and Schuster
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Christina Alberta's Father
by H.G. Wells
from The Hogarth Press
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Hospital Sketches
by Louisa May Alcott
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.95 $3.50 (1 in stock)
Communist Manifesto
Penguin Classics
by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
from Penguin Classics
Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.00 $5.50 (1 in stock)
Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Brothers Grimm, Josef Scharl
from Pantheon Books
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway
by Ernest Hemingway
Finca Vigia Ed from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
3rd edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Cry, the Beloved Country
by Alan Paton
5th edition from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Cry, the Beloved Country
by Alan Paton
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Death of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller
from Penguin Putnam
American Tragedy for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Diary of a Napoleanic Foot Soldier
by Jakob Walter
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Dubliners
Dover Thrift Editions
by James Joyce
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.00 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Enchantress of Florence
by Salman Rushdie
Reprint from Anchor Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Endgame and Act Without Words
by Samuel Beckett
Reprint from Grove Press, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
English Constitution
by Walter Bagehot
from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Euripides III
by Euripides
2nd edition from University of Chicago
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Experiment in Criticism
by C. S. Lewis
Reissue from Cambridge University
Literature Guide/Resource for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99 $14.00 (1 in stock)
Faerie Queene Book 5
by Edmund Spenser
from Hackett Publishing Company
Allegory/Epic Poetry for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$14.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Far Side of the World
Aubrey/Maturin #10
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.95 $7.50 (1 in stock)
Far Side of the World
Aubrey/Maturin #10
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Faust: A Tragedy
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Translated by Martin Greenberg
from Yale University Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Five Dialogues of Plato
by Plato, translated by G.M.A. Grube, revised by John M. Cooper
2nd edition from Hackett Publishing Company
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Flames of Rome
by Paul L. Maier
2nd edition from Kregel Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Forbidden Planet
by W. J. Stuart
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$45.00 (1 in stock)
Fortune of War
Aubrey/Maturin #6
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.95 $6.50 (1 in stock)
Gallic War
by Julius Caesar, translated by H. J. Edwards
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Gentlewoman's Choice
by George MacDonald, edited by Michael R. Phillips
2nd edition from Bethany House
for 8th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
George MacDonald: Selections from His Greatest Works
by David L. Neuhouser
from Victor Books
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams
5th edition from New Directions
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.95 $7.00 (1 in stock)
Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams
from Dramatists Play Service
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Golden Ocean
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$25.99 $7.50 (1 in stock)
Good Husband of Zebra Drive
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #8
by Alexander McCall Smith
from Anchor Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (2 in stock)
Good Husband of Zebra Drive
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #8
by Alexander McCall Smith
from Pantheon Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Gorgias
Oxford World's Classics
by Plato
from Oxford University
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$8.95 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Reissue from Charles Scribner's Sons
Realistic Fiction for 9th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00 $9.00 (2 in stock)
Greek Tragedies I
by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore
from University of Chicago
for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift
from Dover Publications
for 7th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$6.00 $4.00 (1 in stock)
H. M. S. Surprise
Aubrey/Maturin #3
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Hamlet (No Fear Shakespeare)
by William Shakespeare
Study Guide ed. from Sparknotes
for 9th-12th grade
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Home to Holly Springs
by Jan Karon
1st edition from Viking Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
House of the Scorpion
by Nancy Farmer
Reprint from Atheneum
for 8th-Adult
2003 Newbery Honor Book; 2003 National Book Award for Young People's Literature
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
$12.99 $7.00 (1 in stock)
House of the Seven Gables
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
House on Mango Street
by Sandra Cisneros
from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$11.95 $4.00 (1 in stock)
How I Got This Way
by Patrick F. McManus
from Henry Holt and Company
for 10th grade-adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Imitation of Christ
by Thomas à Kempis
from Whitaker House
Devotional Material for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #6
by Alexander McCall Smith
from Anchor Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
by Harriet Jacobs
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Invisible Man
by Ralph Ellison
from Quality Paperback Book Club
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Ionian Mission
Aubrey/Maturin #8
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.95 $7.50 (1 in stock)
Jack Nastyface
by William Robinson
from US Naval Institute Press
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
by Susanna Clarke
from Bloomsbury Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Julius Caesar
Ignatius Critical Editions
by William Shakespeare, edited by Joseph Pearce
from Ignatius Press
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Julius Caesar (No Fear Shakespeare)
by William Shakespeare
Deluxe Edition from Sparknotes
for 9th-12th grade
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Jungle, The
Norton Critical Editions
by Upton Sinclair
Norton Critical Edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
Social Commentary for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Kalahari Typing School for Men
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #4
by Alexander Mccall Smith
1st Anchor Books Edition from Anchor Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
King Richard III
Cambridge School Shakespeare Series
by William Shakespeare
from Cambridge University
Historical Drama for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Kitchen Boy
by Robert Alexander
Reprint from Penguin Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
from Riverhead Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
from Riverhead Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.00 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross
by Sigrid Undset, translated by Tinna Nunnally
from Penguin Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sanditon
Penguin Classics
by Jane Austen
from Penguin Classics
Realistic fiction for 8th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.00 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Landlady's Master
by George MacDonald
from Bethany House
for 8th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Landmark Thucydides
by Thucydides
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Non-Fiction for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$32.00 $18.50 (1 in stock)
Last Bookshop in London
by Madeline Martin
from Hanover Square Press
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Last Castle
by George MacDonald, edited for today's reader by Dan Hamilton
from Victor Books
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Last Days of Socrates
by Plato
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in Clearance: Literature (Location: ZCLE-LIT)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Letters of Abelard and Heloise
by Peter Abelard, Heloise
Revised from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harvest House
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Macbeth
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Simon and Schuster
for 9th-12th grade
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Man for All Seasons
by Robert Bolt
1st Vintage Intl Ed April 1990 from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Man of the People
by Chinua Achebe
from Anchor Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mansfield Park
Vintage Classics
by Jane Austen
from Vintage Books
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Marquis' Secret
by George MacDonald
from Bethany House
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Meaning of Everything
by Simon Winchester
Reprint from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Men-of-War
by Patrick O'Brian
1st Us Edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 5th-10th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00 (2 in stock)
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