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Modern History

There isn't more history in the last five centuries than all the previous millennia, we just have more plentiful records of it. In all honesty, sometimes the plethora of detail isn't only overwhelming, it obscures the whole point of the story. As humans, we're all too susceptible to the lure of obscurity, to the desire for darkness where there ought to be light.

In many ways, this is the chief characteristic of modern history. Mankind seems to have accepted Enlightenment ideals en masse, and the result is the non-stop acquisition of knowledge, as though information could shut us off from the eye of a just and jealous God. Evolutionary theory, psychology, existentialism and postmodernism, public education, Communism—all these ideas are intended to put man at a further remove from God.

During the Renaissance, thinkers and artists decided that if man was going to make himself great, he'd have to replicate the glory of the Classical Era, with its enduring artifacts and intellectual produce. Enlightenment thinkers took this one step further, insisting that man could only know what he could deduce using reason alone, and consequently amassing knowledge in order to have a more thorough basis for such reasonable inquiry.

Since then, philosophers and scientists have devoted themselves to interpreting the facts from a purely human perspective, creating a picture of the universe that is mechanistic and godless. Meaning is dead, God is dead, and hope is dead, but the Enlightenment ideal of human progress (repackaged as Darwinian naturalism) is alive and well, the phantom idol of countless millions.

Even a brief survey of the last century would seem to demolish the possibility of any such idea, but it continues to inform nearly every element of our culture, from pop music to public policy debates. Atrocities like the Holocaust, racism in America, abortion, and totalitarian rule in Asian countries are reinterpreted or explained away to fit the overarching rubrik of sustained forward progress.

Christians understand things a bit differently. We aren't pessimists by any means, but we aren't blind optimists, either. God's plan entails one thing: His ultimate glory, and for those who believe His promises and trust Him for salvation, that's the most hopeful doctrine conceivable. At the same time, we also understand that man's efforts cannot be responsible for whatever good befalls us, that "progress" is only a gift of the Most High, and that only through the Holy Spirit is evil overcome by good.

The modern world is increasingly secular. Even in the Church, men and women stray from biblical truth in favor of appealing arguments on behalf of man, substituting a Christ-centered Gospel with one that is primarily focused on mankind and our individual salvation. We must counter these attitudes with God's truth, but we can only do so with an understanding of where those ideas come from and why they've taken root. A thorough study of modern history can and will provide those answers, and teach us how to stand firm in the truth we hold dear.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and 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: Biographies, 11th grade (Ages 16-17), Hardcover
Admiral David Glasgow Farragut
by Chester G. Hearn
from US Naval Institute Press
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Admiral of the Ocean Sea
by Samuel E. Morison
from Atlantic Monthly Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Aku-Aku
by Thor Heyerdahl
from Rand McNally
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Amazing Mr. Doolittle
by Quentin Reynolds
from Appleton-Century-Crofts
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
American Caesar
by William Manchester
from Little, Brown & Company
for 10th grade-adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Annotated Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
by Ulysses S. Grant
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Annotated Uncle Tom's Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
from Paul S. Eriksson, INC.
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Apostle of Liberty
by Stephen McDowell
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
World's Greatest Literature
by Benjamin Franklin
from Spencer Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
by Benvenuto Cellini
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$11.50 (1 in stock)
B. Franklin, Printer
by David A. Adler
from Holiday House
for 6th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Bach: His Life and Times
by Tim Dowley
1st edition from Hippocrene Books
for 9th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Battle from the Start
by Brian Steel Wills
from HarperCollins
for 9th grade-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Becoming Mrs. Lewis
by Patti Callahan
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Ben Snipes, Northwest Cattle King
by Roscoe Sheller
Third Edition from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 7th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Beyond Stateliest Marble
Leaders in Action Series
by Doug Wilson
from Cumberland House
Biography for
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Bombs and Blessings
by Retha Hazel Eldridge
from Review and Herald Publishing Association
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Boys in the Boat
by Daniel James Brown
from Viking Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Buffalo Bill's Life Story
by William F. Cody, Illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
1966 printing from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
C. S. Lewis: A Life
by Alister McGrath
from Tyndale House
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$24.99 $18.00 (1 in stock)
Call of Duty
Leaders in Action Series
by Steve Wilkins
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
$16.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Captain Cook
by Alistair MacLean
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Carry a Big Stick
Leaders in Action Series
by George Grant
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Carver: A Life in Poems
by Marilyn Nelson
from Boyds Mill Press
for 7th-11th grade
2002 Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Award
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.95
Cheer the Lonesome Traveller
by Leslie Alexander Lacy, illustrated by James Barkley
from Dial Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus
by Samuel Eliot Morison
from Dorset Press
for 8th-11th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Colonial Entrepreneur
by Olivia Coolidge, edited by Danny Smith
from Tilbury House Publishing
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Comes the Comrade!
by Alexandra Orme, translated from the Polish by M.A. Michael and L. Meyer
from William Morrow & Company
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Complete Maus
by Art Spiegelman
from Pantheon Books
for 10th-Adult
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
Declaration of Independence with Short Biographies of its Signers
by Thomas Jefferson
from Applewood Books
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
by James F. Hinkle
from Unknown Publisher
for 7th-12th grade
in Cowboys & Cattlemen (Location: HISA-19CO)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Easy Company Soldier
by Sgt. Don Malarkey
from St. Martin's Press
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$17.50
Edwardian Lady
by Ina Taylor
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Elizabeth the Great
by Elizabeth Jenkins
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Endurance
by Caroline Alexander
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 8th-Adult
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$12.00 (2 in stock)
Escape from Corregidor
by Edward D. Whitcomb
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
for 6th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Ferdinand and Isabella
by William Hickling Prescott
from Heritage Press
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Fighting the Flying Circus
by Captain Eddie V. Rickenbacker
1965 Edition from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Forgotten Founding Father
Leaders in Action Series
by Stephen Mansfield
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-12th grade
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
$16.95 $10.00 (2 in stock)
Francis Bacon: The Temper of a Man
by Catherine Drinker Bowen
from Little, Brown & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya
by Ruth Tucker
2nd edition from Zondervan
History of missions for 11th-Adult
in History of Missions (Location: XCH-MIS)
$32.99 $14.00 (3 in stock)
George MacDonald
by Michael R Phillips
Illustrated Edition from Bethany House
for 11th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
George Washington
by M. D. Holmes
from John C. Winston
for 6th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
George Whitefield: Wayfaring Witness
by Stuart C. Henry
from Abingdon Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Give Me Liberty
Leaders in Action Series
by David Vaughan
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
$17.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
God and Ronald Reagan
by Paul Kengor
from Harper Perennial
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Golden Calm
by Lady Emily Bayley, edited by M. M. Kaye
First Edition from Viking Press
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Great Adventures That Changed Our World
from Reader's Digest
for 10th-Adult
in Modern History (Location: HISW-MOD)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Greater Journey
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Harriet Beecher Stowe
by Suzanne M. Coil
from Franklin Watts
for 7th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Here Is Your War
by Ernie Pyle; illustrated by Carol Johnson
1943 Printing from World Publishing Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
In the Arena: A Memoir of Victory, Defeat and Renewal
by Richard Nixon
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Inventing America: The Life of Benjamin Franklin
by Mark Essig
for 6th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Ishi: Last of His Tribe
by Theodora Kroeber
from California State Department of Education
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
James Herriot's Favorite Dog Stories
by James Herriot
First Printing from St. Martin's Press
for 8th-Adult
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
James I
Sacred Fool Quartet Volume 1
by Otto Scott
from Chalcedon / Ross House Books
for 11th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.00
Jefferson Davis and His Generals
by Steven E. Woodworth
from University Press of Kansas
for 11th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
John Adams and the American Revolution
by Catherine Drinker Bowen
from Little, Brown & Company
for 11th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
John Brown Russwurm
by Mary Sagarin, Introduction by Ernest Kaiser
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
John Paul Jones
by Samuel Eliot Morison
from Little, Brown & Company
for 10th-Adult
1960 Biography Pulitzer Prize
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Jonathan Edwards
by Iain H. Murray
from Banner of Truth Trust
for 11th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$33.00
Journal of Christopher Columbus
by Christopher Columbus, translated by Cecil Jane, with an appendix by R. A. Skelton
from Random House
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
Kon-Tiki
by Thor Heyerdahl, Translated by F. H. Lyon
from Rand McNally
Non-fiction/Adventure for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Lady of Arlington
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
for 6th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Laura Ingalls Wilder: Pioneer Girl
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Pamela Smith Hill
from South Dakota State Historical Society Press
for 7th-Adult
in Little House Materials (Location: LIR-LHM)
$39.99
Life & Times of Louis XIV
by Alfredo Panicucci
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Napoleon
by Mario Rivoire
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Life & Times of Peter the Great
by Giancarlo Buzzi
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Washington
by Mario Rivoire
from Curtis Publishing Co.
Biography for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Life & Times of Washington
by Mario Rivoire, translated by C.J. Richards
from Arnoldo Mondadori Editore
Biography for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Life and Diary of David Brainerd
by David Brainerd
from Moody Press
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$24.00 (1 in stock)
Life and Letters of "Stonewall" Jackson
by Mary Anna Jackson
from Sprinkle Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Life and Letters of Benjamin Franklin
by Benjamin Franklin
from E.M. Hale and Company
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Life of Andrew Jackson
by John S. Jenkins
from New Leaf Press
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$13.50
Life of John Newton
by American Missionary Fellowship
from Attic Books
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.50
Life of Washington
by Anna Reed
from New Leaf Press
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99
Livingstone and his African Journeys
by Elspeth Huxley
from Saturday Review Press
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Longitude
by Dava Sobel
1st edition from Walker and Company
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Longitude
by Dava Sobel
1st edition from Penguin Books
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Lost Executioner
by Nic Dunlop
1st edition from Walker and Company
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Luck of the La Verendryes
by Lyn Harrington
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 7th-12th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
Makers of the Red Revolution
by Olivia Coolidge
from Houghton Mifflin
Non-fiction for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Marcus Whitman: The Great Command
by Nard Jones
2nd edition from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 6th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Maria
by Maria von Trapp
from Creation House
for 7th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mathew Brady
by James D. Horan
from Bonanza Books
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Memorial Volume of Jefferson Davis
by J. William Jones
from Sprinkle Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$22.00 (2 in stock)
Mosby's Rangers
by Jeffry D. Wert
from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
My Heart Lies South
by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Never Dies the Dream
by Margaret Landon
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Nickel's Worth of Skim Milk
by Robert J. Hastings, illustrated by Steve Kerr
from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
for 6th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Not a Tame Lion
Leaders in Action Series
by Terry Glaspey
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
Oregon Trail
by Francis Parkman, Jr., illustrated by Frederic Remington
1993 printing from Little, Brown & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Oregon Trail
by Francis Parkman, Jr., illustrated by Maynard Dixon
from Heritage Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Oregon Trail
by Francis Parkman
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Oregon Trail
Famous Books for Young Americans
by Francis Parkman
from A. L. Burt Company
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Our Mountain Hermitage
by Anne Roller Issler
from Stanford University Press
for 8th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Presidency of George Washington
by Jack D. Warren, Jr.
from University of Virginia Press
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Ranch under the Rimrock
by Dorothy Lawson McCall
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Revolt in the Desert
by T. E. Lawrence
from George H. Doran Company
for 10th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
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