Regional History

Once upon a time, schoolchildren could be expected to know the name of the mountains separating France from Spain, the location of the Nile River, the capitals of all fifty states, and what and where the Pampas could be found. Now, even adults have a hard time naming the most populous city in the U.S. or the countries of Asia. These are, indeed, sad times, and doomed to become sadder if this geographic ignorance is not turned to knowledge.

Without a firm grasp on geography, how can we expect to know anything about history? History is rooted in a sense of place. Why did the Union troops lose the Battle of Cold Harbor? Because they were attacking Confederate fortifications uphill. And if you don't know anything about the Alps, the fact that Hannibal's army crossed them with elephants won't surprise you near as much as it should. Understanding the physical terrain and the demographics of an area are essential to understanding the history of that region.

Which is why studying history by place is such a good idea. There are cultural considerations, of course, and these can be immensely helpful guides in their own right, but simply looking at the lay of the land so to speak will provide a sense of context more abstract boundaries never can. African history, for instance, makes so much more sense if you know what the continent is like.

Even cultures are influenced by geography. Take the United States: some of the most important advances in transportation technology happened within her borders largely due to necessity. The steam engine train was perfected here, automobiles and airplanes were invented here, and in the last few decades we've led the world in space exploration.

It's not that no one traveled before the 19th and 20th century, or outside the North American continent—it's just that because the new nation was so vast, and there were so many natural barriers (the Mississippi River, the Grand Tetons and Great Smokey Mountains, the Mojave Desert), new forms of getting from here to there were not only a good idea, they were a necessity.

There probably isn't one instance in the history of the world in which geography and events weren't directly tied. Certainly this is true for military history, and exploration, and agriculture, but it's also true of ideas and ideologies. Part of the reason slavery was such an important part of Southern culture in the U.S. was that cotton was an immensely growable crop and only armies of slaves could be counted on to get all the work done; in order to justify the use of forced labor, however, a philosophical ethos was developed.

Other instances may be more obscure, but no less true. In France, the mild climate and fertile country led to a series of approaches to thought that emphasized experience and the pursuit of pleasure for its own sake (particularly existentialism); in ancient Greece, the geographical isolation enforced by mountains and seas allowed democratic polity to emerge among the city states.

Geography and history are pretty much Siamese twins, and academic technology has not advanced to the point where they can be separated without risk of life to both. We've organized the subcategories in this section along pretty standard lines (continents, countries, and the like), but standards arise because they work. Explore a region you're unfamiliar with; you're likely to uncover quite a few surprises.

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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485 Items found Print
Active Filters: 11th grade (Ages 16-17), Used Books & Materials
1776
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
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1846 - Portrait of the Nation
by Smithsonian Institute
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Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith
by G. Frederick Owen
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Adventures of Davy Crockett
by David Crockett, illustrated by John W. Thomason
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Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Other Stories
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Africans and Their History
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Age of Fighting Sail
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American Naval History for 8th-Adult
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Age of Religious Wars
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Air Forces of the World
by Sue Butterworth, editor
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Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow
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Amazing Mr. Doolittle
by Quentin Reynolds
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America and Its People
by Laureat Bernard,Ralph Brande, Don Sharkey
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America Is Born
A History for Peter #1
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1960 Newbery Honor Book
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America's Christian History
by Gary DeMar
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America's Longest War
by George C. Herring
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American Barns and Covered Bridges
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American Covenant
by Marshall Foster
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American Dream
by Stephen K. McDowell & Mark Beliles
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American Heritage History of the American Revolution
by Bruce Lancaster
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American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
by Robert M. Utley, Wilcomb E. Washburn
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American Indian Dances
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American Revolutionaries
by Milton Meltzer
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American Waterways: Canal Days
by Jeanne Munn Bracken, ed.
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American Yesterday
by Eric Sloane
15th Printing from Funk & Wagnalls
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Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry
by Tony Barnstone & Chou Ping, eds.
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Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
from World Publishing Company
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1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
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Anne Bradstreet
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Anno's Journey
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Are We to Be a Nation?
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Atlas of the Islamic World
by Francis Robinson
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Atlas of the North American Indian
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Australia
by Gary Lewis
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Australia: Beyond the Black Stump
by Gary Lewis
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Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
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Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
by Benvenuto Cellini
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Aztec and Maya Myths
by Karl Taube
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B. Franklin, Printer
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Battle from the Start
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Battle of Gettysburg
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Beginning of the Republic
A Basic History of the United States Volume 2
by Clarence B. Carson
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American History Reference for 9th-Adult
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Behind the Scenes
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Beyond the Sacred Page
Book of Books #2
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Birds of the Puget Sound Region
by Dennis Paulson
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Black Man in America
from Franklin Watts
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Black Odyssey
by Mary Cable
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Blow Ye Winds Westerly
by Elizabeth Gemming
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Book of Discovery
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Boston
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Brave Men
by Ernie Pyle
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Brethren
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from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult
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Building a City On a Hill
To Pledge Allegiance #2
by Gary DeMar, Fred Douglas Young & Gary L. Todd
from American Vision Press
World History Reference for 8th-11th grade
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$13.00 (2 in stock)
Butter in the Well: Historical Diary 1868-1888
by Linda K. Hubalek
from Butterfield Books
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Captain Dreyfus
by Nicholas Halasz
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Character for Life
by Don Hawkinson
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Cheer the Lonesome Traveller
by Leslie Alexander Lacy, illustrated by James Barkley
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Chickamauga
by Horace Porter
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Chief Joseph Country
by Bill Gulick
3rd Printing 1994 from Caxton Press
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Children of the River
by Linda Crew
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Christian Life and Character of the Civil United States
by Benjamin F. Morris
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Christina Alberta's Father
by H.G. Wells
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Christopher Columbus and His Legacy
Opposing Viewpoints Series
by Mary Ellen Jones, Editor
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Civil War Battles
by Curt Johnson
1st edition from Crescent Books
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Civil War Book of Facts
by Frank Burd
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Civil War Songbook
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Civil War: 1850-1895
American History by Era Volume 5
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Civil War: A History
by Harry Hansen, Introduction by Richard S. Wheeler, Foreword by Gary Gallagher
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Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance
by John R. Hale
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Clive Staples Lewis
by William Griffin
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Cloud Over Hiroshima
by Burt Hirschfeld, jacket & maps by Barry Martin
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$25.00 (1 in stock)
Codfish Musket
by Agnes Hewes, illustrated by Armstrong Sperry
from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
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1937 Newbery Honor Book
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$45.00 (1 in stock)
Collector, The
by Jack Nisbet
from Sasquatch Books
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Colonial Experience
A Basic History of the United States Volume 1
by Clarence B. Carson
from American Textbook Committee
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Colonial Period: 1607-1750
American History by Era Volume 2
by Brenda Stalcup (editor)
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$11.00 (1 in stock)
Colonial Wars Source Book
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$20.00 (1 in stock)
Colosseum
by Peter Quennell
from Newsweek Books
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Comes the Comrade!
by Alexandra Orme, translated from the Polish by M.A. Michael and L. Meyer
from William Morrow & Company
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$3.20 (1 in stock)
Concise History of Ireland
by Fitzroy Maclean
3 Sub from Thames and Hudson
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Confederate War
by Gary W. Gallagher
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Cry from the Earth
by John Bierhorst
from Four Winds Press
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Cry, the Beloved Country
by Alan Paton
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Crying for a Vision
by Walter Wangerin Jr.
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Cut & Assemble the Mayflower
by A. G. Smith
2020 Reprint from Dover Publications
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Czech Reader
by Jan Bazant, Nina Bazantova, and Frances Starn, editors
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Daily Life in Johnson's London
by Richard B. Schwartz
1st edition
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Dark Venture
by Audrey White Beyer, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$11.20 (1 in stock)
Days of Joseph
by John Noble
from Unknown Publisher
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History
Dover Thrift Editions
by John Grafton, editor
from Dover Publications
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
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Defeating the Totalitarian Lie
by Hilmar Von Campe
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Design Line: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
by Chris Oxlade, Edited by Jenny Broom, Illustrated by Mike Lemanski
from Candlewick Press
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Devil at My Heels
by Louis Zamperini and David Rensin, foreword by John McCain
from William Morrow & Company
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$6.40 (1 in stock)
Devil in Massachusetts
by Marion L. Starkey
from Anchor Books
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Diary of a Southern Refugee During the War
by Judith McGuire
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$9.50 (1 in stock)
Diedrich Knickerbocker's A History of New York
by Washington Irving, illustrated by F.O.C. Darley, introduction by Andrew B. Myers
Facsimile, First Printing from Sleepy Hollow Press
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Mythology
by Neil Philip
from DK Publishing
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Dream of Freedom
for 7th-12th grade
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Dubliners
Dover Thrift Editions
by James Joyce
from Dover Publications
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$7.00 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Early American Literature
from Perfection Learning
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in American Literature Curriculum (Location: LITCUR-AM)
$9.00 (3 in stock)
Early American Republic: 1789-1829
by Paul E. Johnson
from Oxford University
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
by James F. Hinkle
from Unknown Publisher
for 7th-12th grade
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
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