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.
Did you find this review helpful?
1,767 Items found Print
Active Filters: Hardcover
10,000 Days of Thunder
by Philip Caputo
1st edition from Atheneum
for 5th-10th grade
in Vietnam War (1957-1975) (Location: HISA-20VIE)
1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving
by Catherine O'Neill Grace
from National Geographic
for 4th-6th grade
in Pilgrims at Plymouth (Location: HISA-17PIL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
1776
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
1812: The War and the World
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
2000 Years of Space Travel
by Russell Freedman
from Holiday House
for 7th-10th grade
in History of Science & Mathematics (Location: SCI-HIS)
A is for Abigail
by Lynne Cheney
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$19.99 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance
by Frances Cavanah
from Rand McNally
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg, illustrated by James Daugherty
from Harcourt, Brace & Company
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Abigail Adams
A Discovery Book
by Helen Stone Peterson, illustrated by Betty Fraser
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Abraham Lincoln
A Discovery Book
by Anne Colver
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Abraham Lincoln
Initial Biography
by Genevieve Foster
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Historical Non-fiction for 3rd-6th grade
1945 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Abraham Lincoln in Peace and War
by Earl Schenck Miers
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Abraham Lincoln's World (pictorial hardcover)
by Genevieve Foster
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Historical Non-fiction for 7th-10th grade
1945 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Across the Wide & Lonesome Prairie
Dear America
by Kristiana Gregory
from Scholastic Inc.
Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th grade
in Dear America Books (Location: SER-DEAR)
Addy Learns a Lesson
by Connie Porter
from American Girl
for 4th-6th grade
in American Girl (Location: SER-AMGIRL)
Adèle & Simon in America
by Barbara McClintock
1st edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Admiral David Glasgow Farragut
by Chester G. Hearn
from US Naval Institute Press
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
Hornblower Series #11
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
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)
Adoniram Judson: A Grand Purpose
by Renee Meloche
from YWAM Publishing
for 2nd-4th grade
in Heroes for Young Readers (Location: BIO-HERO)
Adventure to Home
by Robert Wells, illustrated by Mary Stevens
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-5th grade
in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
Adventures in the Wilderness
by Rutherford Hayes Platt
from Troll Associates
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Adventures of Buffalo Bill
by Col. William F. Cody
from Harper & Brothers
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Captain Bonneville
by Washington Irving, illustrated by Robert Reynolds
Klickitat from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Mark Twain
from Reader's Digest
Realistic Fiction for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Sterling Classics
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$14.95
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Children's Classics
by Mark Twain, Illustrated by Peter Fiore
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 5th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Lewis and Clark
by Ormonde de Kay, Jr.
from Random House
for 2nd-5th grade
in Step Up Books (Location: VIN-STEP)
Adventures of Lewis and Clark
North Star Books #29
by John Bakeless
from Houghton Mifflin
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Adventures of Perrine
Windermere Readers #10
by Hector Malot, translated by Gil Meynier, adapted by Edith Heal
1954 edition from Rand McNally
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Perrine
Windermere Series 4
by Hector Malot, translated by Gil Meynier, adapted by Edith Heal
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain
from International Collectors Library
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Norman Rockwell
from Heritage Press
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Worth Brehm
from Harper & Brothers
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventurous Life of Winston Churchill
by Geoffrey Bocca
from Julian Messner
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
African Traveler
by Ronald Syme
from William Morrow & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Age of Enlightenment
Great Ages of Man
by Peter Gay
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Exploration
Great Ages of Man
by John R. Hale
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Kings
Great Ages of Man
by Charles Blitzer
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Voltaire
Story of Civilization IX
by Will & Ariel Durant
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Air Forces of the World
by Sue Butterworth, editor
from Chartwell Books
for 9th-Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Air War Against Hitler's Germany
by Stephen W. Sears
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Aku-Aku
by Thor Heyerdahl
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Aku-Aku
by Thor Heyerdahl
from Rand McNally
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Alamo All Stars
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #6
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 3rd-8th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$14.99
Alaska Gold Rush
Landmark #92
by May McNeer
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage & Collectible (Location: VIN-COL)
Album of Memories
by Tom Brokaw
from Random House
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Album of Spaceflight
by Tom McGowen, illustrated by Lee Brubaker
from Rand McNally
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Album of the Civil War
by William Loren Katz
from Franklin Watts
for 7th-Adult
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr
Landmark #85
by Russel & Anna Crouse
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
All Aboard for Freedom
by Marie McSwigan, illustrated by E. Harper Johnson, with an introduction by Jan Papanek
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$30.00 (1 in stock)
All About Aviation
All About Books #51
by Robert D. Loomis
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About Rockets and Jets
All About Books #13
by Fletcher Pratt
2nd edition from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About Satellites and Space Ships
All About Books #28
by David Dietz
from Random House
for 4th-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About Satellites and Space Ships
All About Books #28
by David Dietz
Revised edition from Random House
for 4th-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About the Arctic and Antarctic
All About Books #20
by Armstrong Sperry
from Random House
for 3rd-8th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About Undersea Exploration
All About Books #35
by Ruth Brindze, illustrated with more than 60 photographs
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
Book Club (BCE/BOMC) from Ballantine Books
War/Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
All Shook Up
Pivotal Moments in American History
by Glenn C. Altschuler
from Oxford University
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
All Thirteen
by Christina Soontornvat
from Candlewick Press
Daring Rescues for 4th-7th grade
2021 Newbery Honor Book, 2021 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
in 21st Century (Location: HISW-21)
$24.99
All-of-a-Kind Family
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #1
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Helen John
from Follett
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #4
by Sydney Taylor; illustrated by Mary Stevens
from Follett Publishing Co.
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$34.00 (1 in stock)
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)
America 1933
by Michael Golay
from Free Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
America Begins
by Alice Dalgliesh, illustrated by Lois Maloy
Revised Edition from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 1st-3rd grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
America During Four Wars
by Earl Schenck Miers & Felix Sutton
from Grosset & Dunlap
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
America Grows Up
A History for Peter #2
by Gerald W. Johnson, illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher
from William Morrow & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
America in the 1900s and 1910s
Decades of American History
by Jim Callan
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
America in the 1930s
Decades of American History
by Jim Callan
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$35.00 (1 in stock)
America in the 1970s
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
America in the 1990s
by George Ochoa
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
America in the Air War
by Edward Jablonski
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
America in the Time of George Washington
by Sally Senzell Isaacs
from Heinemann Library
for 3rd-6th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
America is Born
A History for Peter #1
by Gerald W. Johnson (iilustrations by Leonard Everett Fisher)
from William Morrow & Company
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$45.00 (1 in stock)
America Moves Forward
A History for Peter #3
by Gerald W. Johnson
from William Morrow & Company
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
America the Beautiful/ A Man of Destiny
by the editors of Country Beautiful Magazine
from Country Beautiful
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
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)
America's First World War
Landmark #77
by Henry Castor
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
America's Heroes
from SP, L.L.C.
for 6th-Adult
in War on Terror (Location: HISA-21WT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
America's Robert E. Lee
by Henry Steele Commager, illustrated by Lynd Ward
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
American Caesar
by William Manchester
from Little, Brown & Company
for 10th grade-adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
American Children Through Their Books
by Sister Monica Kiefer
1970 printing from University of Pennsylvania Press
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
American Fairy Tales
1st edition from Hyperion Books for Children
for 3rd-Adult
American Heritage History of the American Revolution
by Bruce Lancaster
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
by Robert M. Utley, Wilcomb E. Washburn
Revised from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-Adult
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
American Heroes of the 20th Century
Landmark Giant #14
by Harold & Doris Faber
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in Landmark Giants (Location: VIN-LAN)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
by Jon Meacham
from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Plague
by Jim Murphy
from Clarion Books
for 4th-8th grade
2004 Newbery Honor Book, 2004 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner, NCTE Orbi Pictus Award
in New Nation (1783-1800) (Location: HISA-18NN)
$21.99
American Revolution
Landmark #83
by Bruce Bliven, Jr.
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
American Spirit
from LIFE Books
for 9th-Adult
in War on Terror (Location: HISA-21WT)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Story: The Revolutionaries
Time-Life: The American Story
from Time-Life Books
for Adult
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
American Ulysses
by Ronald C. White
from Random House
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Americans in Space
by John Dille
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Americans Into Orbit
Landmark #101
by Gene Gurney
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage & Collectible (Location: VIN-COL)
Amerigo Vespucci
by Nina Brown Baker
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Amy Carmichael: Rescuing the Children
Heroes for Young Readers
by Renee Taft Meloche
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 2nd-4th grade
in Heroes for Young Readers (Location: BIO-HERO)
An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth
by M. K. Gandhi
from Navajivan Publishing House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
from World Publishing Company
for 9th-Adult
1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Andrew Carnegie
from Kingston House
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Andrew Carnegie and the Age of Steel
Landmark #80
by Katherine B. Shippen
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
123456789101112131415161718