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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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1,001 Things Everyone Should Know About American History
by John A. Garraty
1st edition from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
11 Days in December
by Stanley Weintraub
from New American Library
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
1421: The Year China Discovered America
by Gavin Menzies
1st edition from William Morrow & Company
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
1491
by Charles C. Mann
2nd ed. from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$16.15
1776
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$16.14
1776
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
1861: The Civil War Awakening
by Adam Goodheart
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History
by Jay Winik
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
50 States Flipper
from Christopher Lee Publications
for 5th-Adult
in United States Geography (Location: GEO-REFUS)
$7.96
500 Nations
by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
in Native American History (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$28.00 (1 in stock)
660 Curries
by Raghavan Iyer
from Workman Publishing
for Adult
in International & Ethnic Cooking (Location: COOK-ETH)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
A Christmas Carol Audio Drama - 2 CD set
by Charles Dickens
from Focus on the Family
for 1st-Adult
in Audio Books & Dramas (Location: CD-AUDIO)
Abraham Lincoln: Great Speeches
Dover Thrift Editions
by Abraham Lincoln & John Grafton, editor
from Dover Publications
Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00
Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith
by G. Frederick Owen
from Tyndale House
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Admiral David Glasgow Farragut
by Chester G. Hearn
from US Naval Institute Press
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
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)
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)
Adventures of Davy Crockett
by David Crockett, illustrated by John W. Thomason
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$18.00 (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)
Aeneid
by Virgil, translated by Robert Fitzgerald
from Vintage Classics
Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$16.00
Aeneid
by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles
from Penguin Putnam
for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$20.00
Aeneid Of Virgil
by Virgil, translated by Allan Mandelbaum
from Bantam Books
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
African Kingdoms
Great Ages of Man
by Basil Davidson
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Africans and Their History
by Joseph E. Harris
Revised
for 10th-Adult
in Africa (Location: HISMC-AFR)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Against the Tide
by Hope Irvin Marston
from P&R Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.99
Agatha Christie: An Autobiography
by Agatha Christie
2012 Reissue from William Morrow & Company
for 11th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
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)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Age of Fighting Sail
by C. S. Forester
from Chapman Billies, Inc
American Naval History for 8th-Adult
in War of 1812 (Location: HISA-19WET)
Age of Fighting Sail
by C. S. Forester
1st edition from Doubleday & Company
American Naval History for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
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 Religious Wars
by Richard S. Dunn
2nd edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Air Forces of the World
by Sue Butterworth, editor
from Chartwell Books
for 9th-Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$14.40 (1 in stock)
Album of Memories
by Tom Brokaw
from Random House
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Album of the Civil War
by William Loren Katz
from Franklin Watts
for 7th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow
from Penguin Random House
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
All He Knew
by Helen Frost
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 7th-Adult
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$17.99
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
from Ballantine Books
War/Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99
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)
Amazing Grace
by Eric Metaxas
from HarperOne
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.99
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)
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 Christian History
by Gary DeMar
2nd edition from American Vision Press
for 10th-Adult
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
America's Longest War
by George C. Herring
2nd edition from McGraw-Hill
for 11th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
America's National Battlefield Parks
by Joseph E. Stevens
from University of Oklahoma Press
for 9th-Adult
in U.S. Monuments & Symbols (Location: HISV-LANUS)
America's Providential History
by Mark Beliles & Stephen McDowell
from Providence Foundation
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$8.00 (6 in stock)
America: The First 350 Years - MP3 CD
by Steve Wilkins
from Covenant Publications
for 7th-Adult
in History Conferences & Lectures (Location: HISRF-CONF)
$25.00
American Barns and Covered Bridges
by Eric Sloane
1st edition from Wilfred Funk, Inc.
for 5th-Adult
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
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 Civil War
by Robert K. Krick
from Osprey Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
American Civil War
by John Keegan
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$16.11
American Covenant
by Marshall Foster
from Mayflower Institute
for 9th-Adult
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
American Dream
by Stephen K. McDowell & Mark Beliles
from Providence Foundation
for 10th-Adult
in Jamestown Colony (Location: HISA-17JA)
$5.00 (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 History in Black & White
by David Barton
1st edition from WallBuilder Press
for 10th-Adult
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
American Indian Dances
by John L. Squires & Robert E. McLean
from The Ronald Press Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$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)
American Nation
by John D. Hicks
from Riverside Press
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
American Passage
by Vincent J. Cannato
from Harper Perennial
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
American President
by Philip Kunhardt, Jr., Philip Kunhardt III, Peter Kunhardt
from Riverhead Books
for Adult
in American Presidency (Location: HISV-PRE)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
American Revolutionaries
by Milton Meltzer
from HarperCollins
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Story
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
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)
American Yesterday
by Eric Sloane
15th Printing from Funk & Wagnalls
for 5th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
by Gordon S. Wood
from Penguin Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Americans at War
from University Press of Mississippi
for Adult
in Modern History (Location: HISW-MOD)
Amistad
by Helen Kromer
from The Pilgrim Press
for 7th-Adult
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
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)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Analects
by Confucius; translated by Annping Chin
from Penguin Random House
for Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Ancient America
Great Ages of Man
by Jonathan Norton Leonard
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Ancient China
Great Ages of Man
by Edward H. Schafer
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Ancient Rome
by Richard Maybury
2nd edition from Bluestocking Press
for 9th-Adult
in Uncle Eric books (Location: ECON-ERIC)
$11.95
And There Was Light
by Jacques Lusseyran
Third Edition from New World Library
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.95
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)
Annals of Imperial Rome
Penguin Classics
by Tacitus
from Penguin Classics
Historical Non-Fiction for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$19.00
Anne Bradstreet
by Heidi L. Nichols
from P&R Publishing
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$13.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Anne Bradstreet
Christian Renegades Series
by Doug Wilson
3rd edition from Canon Press
Biography for
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.95
Anne Bradstreet
by Faith Cook
from Evangelical Press
for 6th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Anno's Journey
by Mitsumasa Anno
from Puffin Books
for 2nd-Adult
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Anno's Journey
by Mitsumasa Anno
from Beautiful Feet Books
for 2nd-Adult
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$14.95
Annotated African American Folktales
by Henry Louis Gates & Maria Tatar
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Annotated Arabian Nights
by Paulo Lemos Horta (editor), translated by Yasmine Seale
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$45.00
Annotated Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Annotated Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
by Ulysses S. Grant
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Annotated Uncle Tom's Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
from Paul S. Eriksson, INC.
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Annotated Uncle Tom's Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Antebellum America: 1784-1850
American History by Era Volume 4
by William Dudley (book editor)
from Greenhaven Press
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Apostle of Liberty
by Stephen McDowell
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
Arabian Nights
by Sir Richard Burton, trans.
from Bracken Books
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
Arabian Nights
by Sir Richard Burton, trans.
from Book League of America
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
Arabian Nights - Two Volume Set
by Sir Richard Burton (translator), illustrated by Arthur Szyk
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age: 1798-1939
by Albert Hourani
2007 Printing from Cambridge University
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Archko Volume
by Drs. McIntosh and Twyman, translators
Reprint Edition from Keats Publishing, Inc
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Are We to Be a Nation?
by Richard B. Bernstein, with Kym S. Rice
from Harvard University Press
for 10th-Adult
in New Nation (1783-1801) (Location: HISA-18NN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Arguing about Slavery
by William Lee Miller
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$15.26
Army of the Potomac - 3 Volumes
by Bruce Catton
from Doubleday & Company
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
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