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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Abe's Honest Words
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America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
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Animals Robert Scott Saw
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Bad River Boys
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Balto and the Great Race
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Columbus
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Emperor's Egg
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F is for Freedom
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Famous Figures of the American Revolution
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First Step
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Flight
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Food and Recipes of Westward Expansion
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Francisco Pizarro
Discover the Life of an Explorer
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George Washington's Breakfast
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George Washington's Breakfast
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Glorious Flight
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Going West!
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Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
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Happy Birthday, Dr. King!
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Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King
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Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter
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Hatmaker's Sign: A Story by Benjamin Franklin
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History Pockets: Life in Plymouth Colony
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Hot Air
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How They Built the Statue of Liberty
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I am Sacagawea
Ordinary People Change the World
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I Have a Dream
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I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 - Graphic Novel
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If You Were a Kid in the Thirteen Colonies
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Isaac Newton and the Laws of Motion
by Andrea Gianopoulos
1st edition from Capstone Press
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John Brown: One Man Against Slavery
by Gwen Everett, Illustrated by Jacob Lawrence
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John, Paul, George & Ben
by Lane Smith
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Johnny Appleseed
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Johnny Appleseed: The Story of a Legend
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Joke's on George
by Michael O. Tunnell; illustrated by Kathy Osborn
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Lady Liberty: A Biography
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Last Princess
by Fay Stanley; illustrated by Diane Stanley
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Liberty!
by Lucille Recht Penner
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Life on a Southern Plantation
by Sally Senzell Isaacs
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Life on the Homefront During the Civil War
by Melissa Doak
2012nd edition from Crabtree Publishing
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Living in Space
by Katie Daynes, illustrated by Zoe Wray
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Lotus Seed
by Sherry Garland
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Lotus Seed
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Mama Went to Jail for the Vote
by Kathleen Karr, illustrated by Malene Laugesen
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Mama, Do You Love Me?
by Barbara M. Joosse, Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee
from Scholastic Inc.
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Martin Luther King, Jr
by Carol Hilgartner Schlank, Barbara Metzger, illustrated by John Kastner
from Gryphon House
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$3.20 (1 in stock)
Meet George Washington
Step Up Books
by Joan Heilbroner
from Random House
Biography for 1st-4th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Meet Thomas Jefferson
by Marvin Barrett
from Random House
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Mesmerized
by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by Iacopo Bruno
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
by Henry W. Longfellow, illustrated by Jeffrey Thompson
Reprint from Scholastic Inc.
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Mighty Jackie
by Marissa Moss
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
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Molly's Pilgrim
A Bantam First Skylark
by Barbara Cohen, illustrated by Daniel Mark Duffy
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$1.60 (4 in stock)
Mousetronaut Goes to Mars
by Mark Kelly, illustrated by C. F. Payne
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$6.40 (1 in stock)
My Brothers' Flying Machine
by Jane Yolen
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$3.20 (1 in stock)
My Name is York
by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk, illustrated by Bill Farnsworth
from Rising Moon Books
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$3.20 (1 in stock)
N.C. Wyeth's Pilgrims
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Not Regina
by Christmas Carol Kauffman
Fourth Printing from Pathway Publishers
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On the Mayflower
by Kate Waters
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$8.50 (1 in stock)
Paul Revere
First Biographies
by Jan Gleiter and Kathleen Thompson, Illustrated by Francis Balistreri
from Steck-Vaughn Company
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$6.40 (1 in stock)
Peter the Great
by Diane Stanley
from William Morrow & Company
Biography for Preschool-3rd grade
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$9.60 (1 in stock)
Picture Book of Florence Nightingale
by David A. Adler, illustrated by John & Alexandra Wallner
Repackaged from Holiday House
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
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$3.60 (1 in stock)
Picture Book of George Washington
by David A. Adler
1st edition from Holiday House
for Preschool-3rd grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
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