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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327 Items found Print
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Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
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Abraham Lincoln
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Adventurous Life of Winston Churchill
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African Traveler
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Childhood of Famous Americans
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Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr
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Amelia Earhart: Kansas Girl
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America in the Time of George Washington
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America's Ethan Allen
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America's Robert E. Lee
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American Heroes of the 20th Century
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Amerigo Vespucci
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Andrew Jackson: Soldier and Statesman
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Angel of Mercy
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Answering the Cry for Freedom
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Antonin Dvorak
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At Her Majesty's Request
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Balboa: Swordsman and Conquistador
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Beethoven
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Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia
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Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin
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Betsy Ross and the Flag
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Betsy Ross: Girl of Old Philadelphia
Childhood of Famous Americans
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Black Hawk, Young Sauk Warrior
Childhood of Famous Americans
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Book of Famous Explorers
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Booker T. Washington
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BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom
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2021 Newbery Honor Book
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Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis
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2000 Newbery Medal winner
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Buffalo Bill's Great Wild West Show
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Buffalo Bill: Boy of the Plains
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Cabin Boy to Advent Crusader
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Captain Cook: Pacific Explorer
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Carl Sandburg: Young Singing Poet
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
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Cartier Sails the St. Lawrence
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Catherine the Great
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Charles A. Lindbergh
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Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre
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Chief Joseph of the Nez Perces
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Christopher Columbus and His Brothers
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Clara Barton: Girl Nurse
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Colonial Governor
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Columbus: The Triumphant Failure
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Combat Nurses of World War II
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Come on Seabiscuit
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Commodore Perry in Japan
by Robert Reynolds
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Crispus Attucks: Boy of Valor
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Daniel Boone, Wilderness Scout
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Daniel Boone, Wilderness Scout
by Stewart Edward White, illustrated by James Daugherty
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Daniel Boone: Boy Hunter
Childhood of Famous Americans
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Daniel Boone: The Opening of the Wilderness
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The History of the Civil War
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1935 Newbery Honor Book
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Davy Crockett
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Davy Crockett: Young Rifleman
Childhood of Famous Americans
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Dorothea Dix
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Drake: The Man They Called a Pirate
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Duke Ellington
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Eagle and the Fort
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Eli Whitney: Great Inventor
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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Elizabeth Prentiss
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Emancipation Proclomation
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Exploration and Conquest
by Betsy & Giulio Maestro
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Exploration and Conquest
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Exploration of Africa
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Explorer's Handbook
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Explorers & Discoverers - 4 Volume Set
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Explorers for God
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Ferdinand Magellan
by Ronald Welch
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Finding the New World
by Walter Taylor Field
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Flight and Adventures of Charles II
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Florence Nightingale
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For You They Signed
by Marilyn Boyer
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Forever Free
by Dorothy Sterling, illustrated by Ernest Crichlow
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Forever Free
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Forging Freedom
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Fortunate Grandchild
by Miss Read
1st US Edition from Houghton Mifflin
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Forward March to Freedom
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Francisco Pizarro and the Conquest of the Inca
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Galileo and the Magic Numbers
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Garibaldi: Father of Modern Italy
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George Rogers Clark: War in the West
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George Washington
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George Washington: Frontier Colonel
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Geronimo: Wolf of the Warpath
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Girl Who Drew Butterflies
by Joyce Sidman
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2019 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
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$17.99
Golden Book History of the United States
by Earl Schenck Miers, illustrated by Alton S. Tobey and Richard P. Kluga
from Golden Press
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Golden Book History of the United States - 12 Volume Set
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Golden Book History of the United States Volume 1
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Good Queen Bess
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