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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156 Items found Print
Active Filters: Picture Books, 5th grade (Ages 10-11), Hardcover
America's Ethan Allen
by Stewart H. Holbrook; illustrated by Lynd Ward
9th printing from Houghton Mifflin
Picture Book Biography for 4th-6th grade
1950 Caldecott Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Armstrong
by Torben Kuhlmann, Translated by David Henry Wilson
from NorthSouth
for 2nd-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Beethoven
by Reba Paeff Mirsky
from Follett
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Blizzard!
by Jim Murphy
from Scholastic Press
for 4th-6th grade
2001 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom
by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Michele Wood
from Candlewick Press
for 4th-6th grade
2021 Newbery Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99
Captain Cook: Pacific Explorer
by Ronald Syme
from William Morrow & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Cats in Krasinski Square
by Karen Hesse
1st edition from Scholastic Press
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in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre
by Robert Van Nutt, Stewart Ross
1st edition from Viking Press
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Columbus: The Triumphant Failure
by Oliver Postgate & Naomi Linnell
from Franklin Watts
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Duke Ellington
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
1st edition from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 3rd-6th grade
1999 Caldecott Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Exploration and Conquest
by Betsy & Giulio Maestro
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 3rd-7th grade
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Exploration and Conquest
by Betsy & Giulio Maestro
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Good Ol' Cowboy Stories
by Jack Terry
from Harvest House
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
Good Queen Bess
by Diane Stanley & Peter Vennema
from HarperCollins
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$18.99
Great Little Madison
by Jean Fritz
1st edition from G.P. Putnam's Sons
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$9.00 (2 in stock)
Hitty: Her First Hundred Years
by Rachel Field, illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop
1969 printing from Macmillan
for 5th-9th grade
1930 Newbery Medal Winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
How I Learned Geography
by Uri Shulevitz
1st edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 2nd-5th grade
Caldecott Honor Book
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$21.99
I, Matthew Henson
by Carole Boston Weatherford
1st edition from Walker Books
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If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War
by Kay Moore
from Perfection Learning
for 2nd-6th grade
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$16.60
Indian Summer
by F. N. Monjo
from HarperTrophy
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It Can't Be Done, Nellie Bly!
by Nancy Butcher
1st edition from Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.
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John Hancock
Weekly Reader Heroes of the Revolution
by Susan & John Lee, illustrated by Chuck Mitchell
from Children's Press
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Let's Go to the Battle of Gettysburg
by Judith Spiegelman, Illustrated by Charles Dougherty
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 1st-5th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Lewis and Clark and Me
by Laurie Myers
from Henry Holt and Company
Fictionalized Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Liberty
by Lynn Curlee
from Atheneum
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Lindbergh
Classic Starts
by Torben Kuhlmann, Translated by David Henry Wilson
from NorthSouth
for 2nd-6th grade
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$19.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Long Ago in Oregon
by Claudia Lewis, illustrated by Joel Fontaine
from Harper & Row
for Kindergarten-5th grade
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Lost Colony of Roanoke
by Jean Fritz, illustrated by Hudson Talbott
from Putnam Juvenile
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Luba
by Luba Tryszynska-Frederick
from Tricycle Press
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Many Thousand Gone
by Virginia Hamilton
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Moonshot
by Brian Floca
Expanded Edition from Atheneum
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2010 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
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$19.99
My Secret Camera
by Mendel Grossman
from Harcourt
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
One Thousand Tracings
by Lita Judge
from Little, Brown & Company
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Ookpik
by Bruce Hiscock
First Edition from Boyds Mill Press
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Panama Canal
by Elizabeth Mann
from Mikaya Press
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$10.00 (2 in stock)
Patrol
by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Ann Grifalconi
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-6th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Paul Revere's Ride
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, illustrated by Charles Santore
1st edition from HarperCollins
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Peter the Great
by Diane Stanley
from William Morrow & Company
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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$17.99 $12.00 (2 in stock)
Pilgrim Voices
by Connie Roop, Peter Roop, eds.
from Walker and Company
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Pilgrims Plantation
by June Behrens and Pauline Brower
from Children's Press
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Polar the Titanic Bear
by Daisy Spedden, Laurie McGaw
from Hyperion/Madison Press
Word Books for 3rd-6th grade
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Prince Henry the Navigator
by Leonard Everett Fisher
1st edition from Atheneum
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Secret Seder
by Doreen Rappaport
1st edition from Hyperion Press
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Shackleton's Journey
by William Grill
from Flying Eye Books
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$19.99
Sieur de La Salle
by John Paul Zronik
from Crabtree Publishing
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Sophie Scott Goes South
by Alison Lester
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 3rd-5th grade
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Story of Admiral Peary at the North Pole
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Zachary Kent
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Apollo 11
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein & David J. Catrow III
from Children's Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Child Labor Laws
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Christopher Columbus
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Zachary Kent
from Children's Press
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in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Story of D-Day
by R. Conrad Stein & Tom Dunnington
from Children's Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of D-Day
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Story of D-Day
by R. Conrad Stein & Tom Dunnington
from Children's Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Ellis Island
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Ellis Island
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Flight
by Mary Lee Settle
from Random House
for 4th-7th grade
in Step Up Books (Location: VIN-STEP)
Story of Ford's Theater & the Death of Lincoln
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Zachary Kent
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Fort Sumter
by Eugenia Burney
from Children's Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Henry Ford & the Automobile
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Zachary Kent
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Jamestown
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Marilyn Prolman
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Jamestown
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Marilyn Prolman
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Zachary Kent
from Children's Press
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in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Lexington and Concord
by Keith Neely, R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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Story of Marquette and Jolliet
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Monticello
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Norman Richards
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Monticello
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Norman Richards, Illustrated by Chuck Mitchell
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Mount Vernon
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Natalie Miller
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Old Ironsides
by Norman Richards, illustrated by Tom Dunnington
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Barbary Pirates
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Battle for Iwo Jima
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Battle of the Bulge
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Battle of the Bulge
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Bill of Rights
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Black Hawk Wars
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Bonhomme Richard
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Norman Richards
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Bonhomme Richard
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Norman Richards
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Boston Tea Party
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Burning of Washington
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Challenger Disaster
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Zachary Kent
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Chicago Fire
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Chisholm Trail
by Andrew Santella
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Conestoga Wagon
by Kenneth Richards
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Conestoga Wagon
by Kenneth Richards
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Constitution
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Marilyn Prolman
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Constitution
by Marilyn Prolman
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Constitution
by Marilyn Prolman
Revised from Children's Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Crisis in the Gulf
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Leila Merrell Foster
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Declaration of Independence
by Norman Richards
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Election of 1860
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Fall of the Soviet Union
Cornerstones of Freedom series
by Miles Harvey
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Freedom Riders
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Deborah Kent
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Gettysburg Address
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Kenneth Richards
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Gettysburg Address
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Kenneth Richards
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Gettysburg Address
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Kenneth Richards & Tom Dunnington
from Children's Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Gold at Sutter's Mill
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Golden Spike
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Stein Conrad
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Great Depression
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Great Society
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Leila M. Foster
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of the Haymarket Riot
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Charnan Simon
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
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