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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1776
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
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1861: The Civil War Awakening
by Adam Goodheart
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20th Century Wars
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3,650 of the World's Finest Proverbs
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Abe Lincoln Grows Up
by Carl Sandburg
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Abraham Lincoln
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
75th Anniversary Edition from Beautiful Feet Books
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1940 Caldecott Medal winner
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Abraham Lincoln's World
by Genevieve Foster, expanded by Joanna Foster
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1945 Newbery Honor Book
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Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith
by G. Frederick Owen
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Accidental Voyage
Mr. Pipes Series #4
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Across America on an Emigrant Train
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1994 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
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Adara
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Adelita
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Adopted by Indians
by Thomas Jefferson Mayfield
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$18.00
Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Lewis & Clark
by Jamie Aramini
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Adventures of the American Revolution
by Susan Olasky
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Aeneid
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Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 10th-Adult
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Aeneid
by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles
from Penguin Putnam
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$19.00
Africa For Kids
by Harvey Croze
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Age of Religious Wars
by Richard S. Dunn
2nd edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
AIO Imagination Station Book #02
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AIO Imagination Station Book #04
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AIO Imagination Station Book #05
by Brock Eastman & Marianne Hering
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by Marianne Hering & Marshal Younger
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AIO Imagination Station Book #09
by Marianne Hering, Marshal Younger
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by Marianne Hering, Wayne Thomas Batson
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by Marianne Hering, Nancy I. Sanders
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by Marianne Hering, Nancy I. Sanders
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by Marianne Hering, Nancy I. Sanders
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by Marianne Hering, Nancy I. Sanders
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by Marianne Hering, Paul McCusker
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by Marianne Hering
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AIO Imagination Station Book #22
by Marianne Hering & Sheila Seifert
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$5.99
Air Raid - Pearl Harbor!
by Theodore Taylor
1st Gulliver Books pbk. ed from HMH Books for Young Readers
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 7th-10th grade
2005 Newbery Honor Book
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$8.99
Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow
from Penguin Random House
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$10.00 (2 in stock)
Almost Home
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
from Moody Press
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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Always Room for One More
by Sorche Nic Leodhas
from Henry Holt and Company
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1966 Caldecott Medal winner
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Amazing Grace
by Eric Metaxas
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$15.99
Amazing Impossible Erie Canal
by Cheryl Harness
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Historical Non-Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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$7.99
Amelia to Zora
1st edition from Charlesbridge
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$7.95
America and Vietnam
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Historical Non-Fiction for 7th-10th grade
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$13.95
America First updated
by Lawton B. Evans, Updated & Revised by Rachel Lebowitz
from Charlotte Mason Plenary LLC
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
America from the Beginning - Student Manual
by Joshua Franklin, Debbie Lawrence
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$29.00 (1 in stock)
America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
by Sally Senzell Isaacs
from Heinemann Library
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
America's Christian History
by Gary DeMar
2nd edition from American Vision Press
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$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 Paul Revere
by Esther Forbes
from Sandpiper Books
Biography for 2nd-6th grade
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$12.99
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's War Heroes
by Marilyn Boyer
from Master Books
for 4th-8th grade
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$10.39
American Civil War
by Robert K. Krick
from Osprey Publishing
for 9th-Adult
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
American Civil War
by John Keegan
from Vintage Books
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$18.95
American Covenant
by Marshall Foster
from Mayflower Institute
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
American History in Verse
by Burton Stevenson
from Bob Jones University Press
Poetry for 3rd-Adult
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$11.00
American Passage
by Vincent J. Cannato
from Harper Perennial
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Revolution
America at War Series
by Alden Carter
from Grolier Publishing
Historical Non-fiction for 4th-6th grade
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American Revolutionaries
by Milton Meltzer
from HarperCollins
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American Waterways: Canal Days
by Jeanne Munn Bracken, ed.
from History Compass
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in 19th Century America (Location: HISA-19C)
$5.50 (1 in stock)
Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
by Gordon S. Wood
from Penguin Books
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Amistad Slave Revolt and American Abolition
by Karen Zeinert
from Linnet Books
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom
by Walter Dean Myers
from Puffin Books
for 5th-8th grade
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$5.00 (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)
Anatole
by Eve Titus
Reprint from Dragonfly Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1957 Caldecott Honor Book
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$8.99
Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry
by Tony Barnstone & Chou Ping, eds.
from Anchor Books
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$17.00 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Ancient Civilizations: China
Ancient Civilizations
by Valerie Bodden
Reprint from Creative Paperbooks
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Ancient Maya
by Lila Perl
from Children's Press
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Ancient Roman Art
by Susie Hodge
2nd edition from Heinemann Educational Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Ancient Rome
by Richard Maybury
2nd edition from Bluestocking Press
for 9th-Adult
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$11.95
Ancient Rome Activity Book
by Mary J. Keller
from Edupress
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in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
And Now Miguel
by Joseph Krumgold
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1954 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$5.99
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
Andie's Moon
Historical House: 1969
by Linda Newbery
from Educational Development Corporation
for 3rd-6th grade
in Series Books (Location: SER-MISC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Angel Child, Dragon Child
by Michele Maria Surat
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Angel Knew Papa and the Dog
by Douglas Kaine McKelvey
from Rabbit Room Press
for 2nd-4th grade
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$12.99
Anna and the King (adapted)
by Margaret Landon
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Anna and the King of Siam
by Margaret Landon
from HarperCollins
Historical fiction for 9th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$14.95
Anna Hibiscus
by Atinuke
Reprint from Candlewick Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99
Annals
by Tacitus, translated with introduction & notes by A.J. Woodman
from Hackett Publishing Company
for Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$10.00 (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 Frank's Story
by Carol Ann Lee
from Puffin Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
by Ruud van der Rol & Rian Verhoeven
from Puffin Books
for 7th-10th grade
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
by Ruud van der Rol & Rian Verhoeven
from Scholastic Inc.
for 6th-10th grade
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Anne of Avonlea
Anne #2
by L. M. Montgomery
from Aladdin Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Anno's Italy PB
by Mitsumasa Anno
from Beautiful Feet Books
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$14.95
Anno's Journey
by Mitsumasa Anno
from Beautiful Feet Books
for 2nd-Adult
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$14.95
Anno's Spain
by Mitsumasa Anno
from Beautiful Feet Books
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$14.95
Anpao
by Jamake Highwater
from HarperCollins
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1978 Newbery Honor Book
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$8.99
Apples to Oregon
by Deborah Hopkinson
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
for Preschool-3rd grade
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$8.99
Arabs in the Golden Age
by Mokhtar Moktefi & Veronique Ageorges
from Millbrook Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Arguing about Slavery
by William Lee Miller
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$17.95
Around the World in a Hundred Years
by Jean Fritz
from Penguin Putnam
Biography for 2nd-5th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Art of Chinese Cuisine
by Hsiang Ju Lin and Tsuifeng Lin
from Tuttle Publishing
for Adult
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$4.80 (1 in stock)
Arthur Erskine's Story
Reformation Trail Series #14
by Deborah Alcock
from Inheritance Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Reformation Trail Series (Location: FIC-WH06)
$25.95
Ashanti to Zulu
by Margaret Musgrove, Leo & Diane Dillon
from Puffin Books
Word Books for 2nd-5th grade
1977 Caldecott Medal winner
in Alphabet & Counting Books (Location: PIC-ALPH)
$8.99
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