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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13 Colonies: Georgia
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Abe's Honest Words
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Abraham Lincoln
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Across America
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Africa Is My Home
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Amelia Earhart
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America At War: Korean War
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America in the Time of Lewis and Clark
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American History: Globalization 1977-2008
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American History: The Civil Rights Movement & Vietnam 1960-1976
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Are We to Be a Nation?
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Assassination of John F. Kennedy: November 22, 1963
24 Hour History
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Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.: April 4, 1968
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Can't You Make Them Behave, King George?
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Can't You Make Them Behave, King George?
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Cut & Assemble the Mayflower
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2020 Reprint from Dover Publications
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Dear Benjamin Banneker
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Declaration of Independence
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Declaration of Independence
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Discovering Mars
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DK Smithsonian Space!
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Draw the Titanic
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Elizabeth I, the People's Queen
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Exploration of Space
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George Washington You Never Knew
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Gettysburg: The Final Fury
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Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
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Happy Birthday, Dr. King!
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I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 - Graphic Novel
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If You Grew Up With George Washington
If You Were There
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If You Were a Kid in the Thirteen Colonies
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In Defense of Liberty
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2004 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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John Hancock
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Johnny Appleseed
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Kinderlager
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Lady Liberty: A Biography
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Last River
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Lewis & Clark: An illustrated History
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Life in Early America
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Life on a Plantation
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Little Bighorn
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Living in Space
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Magellan and the Exploration of South America
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Mama, Do You Love Me?
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Marco Polo
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Mars Exploration 1960-2016
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Mayflower II
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Mesmerized
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Milliken: The Age of Exploration
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Milliken: The Growth of Democracy
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My Name is York
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Nathan Hale
Hidden History: Spies
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Picture Book of Florence Nightingale
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Plymouth Thanksgiving
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Politically Incorrect Guide to the American Revolution
P.I.G. series
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Primary Source History of the American Revolution
Fact Finders
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from Capstone Press
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Reconstruction and the Aftermath of the Civil War
Understanding the Civil War
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Remembering John McCrae
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Robert Fulton
by Marguerite Henry; illustrated by Robert Patterson
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Ruby Bridges Goes to School
Scholastic Reader Level 2
by Ruby Bridges
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Schoolhouse Blizzard
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Seaman's Journal
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Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
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Secrets of the American Revolution
by Tyler Omoth
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September 11, 2001
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Settling of Jamestown
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by Janet Riehecky
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Sophie Takes to the Sky
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Sourcebook on Colonial America: Battles in a New Land
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Sourcebook on Colonial America: Governing and Teaching
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Sourcebook on Colonial America: The Arts and Sciences
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Abraham Lincoln
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by Eugenia Burney
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Story of Marquette and Jolliet
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Story of the Declaration of Independence
by Norman Richards, Tom Dunnington
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Erie Canal
by R. Conrad Stein
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
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in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Story of the Gettysburg Address
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Kenneth Richards
from Children's Press
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Story of The Monitor and the Merrimac
by R. Conrad Stein
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Spirit of St. Louis
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Story of the Women's Movement
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Maureen Ash
from Children's Press
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Streets Were Paved With Gold
by Stan Cohen
2012 Printing from Pictorial Histories Publishing Company
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
12