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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535 Items found Print
Active Filters: 12th grade (Ages 17-18), Hardcover
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)
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)
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
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
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
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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)
African Kingdoms
Great Ages of Man
by Basil Davidson
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)
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)
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 the Civil War
by William Loren Katz
from Franklin Watts
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
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 Mr. Doolittle
by Quentin Reynolds
from Appleton-Century-Crofts
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
America and Its People
by Laureat Bernard,Ralph Brande, Don Sharkey
from W. H. Sadlier
for 9th-12th grade
in Vintage Readers & Textbooks (Location: VIN-READ)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
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
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America in the Air War
by Edward Jablonski
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
American Caesar
by William Manchester
from Little, Brown & Company
for 10th grade-adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
American 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.
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$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.
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
American Indian Dances
by John L. Squires & Robert E. McLean
from The Ronald Press Co.
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
American Story
from Curtis Publishing Co.
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in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Ancient America
Great Ages of Man
by Jonathan Norton Leonard
from Time-Life Books
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in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Ancient China
Great Ages of Man
by Edward H. Schafer
from Time-Life Books
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Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
from World Publishing Company
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1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Annals of Tacitus
by Cornelius Tacitus
from Franklin Library
for 10th-12th grade
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
Annotated African American Folktales
by Henry Louis Gates & Maria Tatar
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 9th-Adult
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Annotated Arabian Nights
by Paulo Lemos Horta (editor), translated by Yasmine Seale
from W. W. Norton and Co.
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$45.00
Annotated Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
from W. W. Norton and Co.
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Annotated Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
by Ulysses S. Grant
from W. W. Norton and Co.
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Annotated Uncle Tom's Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
from Paul S. Eriksson, INC.
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
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Annotated Uncle Tom's Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
from W. W. Norton and Co.
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Apostle of Liberty
by Stephen McDowell
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
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Arabian Nights
by Sir Richard Burton, trans.
from Bracken Books
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Arabian Nights
by Sir Richard Burton, trans.
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Arabian Nights - Two Volume Set
by Sir Richard Burton (translator), illustrated by Arthur Szyk
from Heritage Press
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Archko Volume
by Drs. McIntosh and Twyman, translators
Reprint Edition from Keats Publishing, Inc
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Army of the Potomac - 3 Volumes
by Bruce Catton
from Doubleday & Company
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Astoria
by Washington Irving
from Binford & Mort Publishing
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Atlas of the Islamic World
by Francis Robinson
from Facts On File
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Australia
by Gary Lewis
from Peter Antill-Rose
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Australia: Beyond the Black Stump
by Gary Lewis
from Peter Antill-Rose
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
World's Greatest Literature
by Benjamin Franklin
from Spencer Press
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Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
by Benvenuto Cellini
from International Collectors Library
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B. Franklin, Printer
by David A. Adler
from Holiday House
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$8.00 (2 in stock)
Back Roads of Oregon
by Earl Thollander
from Clarkson Potter Publishers
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Back Roads of Washington
by Earl Thollander
from Clarkson Potter Publishers
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Battle for the Falklands
by Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins
from W. W. Norton and Co.
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Battle from the Start
by Brian Steel Wills
from HarperCollins
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
Battle of Austerlitz
by Trevor Dupuy
from Macmillan
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Bayeux Tapestry
by Norman Denny & Josephine Filmer-Sankey
First Edition from Atheneum
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Beards' New Basic History of the United States
by Charles A. Beard, Mary R. Beard, and William Beard
from Doubleday & Company
for 10th-Adult
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Beau Geste
by Percival Christopher Wren
from Reader's Digest
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Bell for Adano
by John Hersey
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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Ben Snipes, Northwest Cattle King
by Roscoe Sheller
Third Edition from Binford & Mort Publishing
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Ben-Hur
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Lew Wallace
from Reader's Digest
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Ben-Hur
by Lew Wallace
from Harper & Brothers
for 9th-Adult
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Berliners
by Vesper Stamper
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
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$21.99
Beyond Stateliest Marble
Leaders in Action Series
by Doug Wilson
from Cumberland House
Biography for
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Big Burn
by Timothy Egan
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Black Man in America
from Franklin Watts
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Black Narcissus
by Rumer Godden
from Little, Brown & Company
for 11th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci
by Romola Anderson, R. C. Anderson
1st edition from Henry Holt and Company
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$19.99
Blow Ye Winds Westerly
by Elizabeth Gemming
1st edition from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Bombs and Blessings
by Retha Hazel Eldridge
from Review and Herald Publishing Association
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Boston
from Crescent Books
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in Landmarks & Symbols of the United States (Location: HISV-LANUS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Boys in the Boat
by Daniel James Brown
from Viking Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Brave Bulls
by Tom Lea
First Edition, Second Printing from Little, Brown & Company
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Brave Men
by Ernie Pyle
from Grosset & Dunlap
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Brave Men
by Ernie Pyle
7th printing, 1945 from Henry Holt and Company
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Bret Harte: Stories of the Early West
by Bret Harte
from Platt and Munk Publishers
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Bridge of the Gods
by F. H. Balch, illustrated by L. Maynard Dixon
from A.C. McClurg & Co.
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Brontes at Haworth
by Ann Dinsdale
from Frances Lincoln
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Buffalo Bill's Life Story
by William F. Cody, Illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
1966 printing from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 6th-Adult
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Buffalo Coat
by Carol Ryrie Brink
for 9th-Adult
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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
by Dee Brown
from Holt McDougal
for 9th-Adult
in Native Americans (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$20.00
C. S. Lewis: A Life
by Alister McGrath
from Tyndale House
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$24.99 $18.00 (1 in stock)
Caesar and Christ
Story of Civilization III
by Will Durant
from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
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Call of Duty
Leaders in Action Series
by Steve Wilkins
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
$16.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Captain Cook
by Alistair MacLean
from Doubleday & Company
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Carry a Big Stick
Leaders in Action Series
by George Grant
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Castle Gay
by John Buchan
from Houghton Mifflin
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Centennial History of the Civil War - 3 Volumes
by Bruce Catton
from Doubleday & Company
for 10th-Adult
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Character for Life
by Don Hawkinson
for 7th-12th grade
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Cheer the Lonesome Traveller
by Leslie Alexander Lacy, illustrated by James Barkley
from Dial Press
for 9th-Adult
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Chickamauga
by Horace Porter
from Konecky & Konecky
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in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Chief Joseph Country
by Bill Gulick
from Caxton Press
for 8th-Adult
in Native Americans (Location: HISA-19NAT)
Children of the River
by Linda Crew
from Delacorte Press
for 9th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Christian Life and Character of the Civil United States
by Benjamin F. Morris
from American Vision Press
for 9th-Adult
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$35.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Battles
by Curt Johnson
1st edition from Crescent Books
for 7th-12th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War: 1861-1865
by David E. Roth
from Zigzag
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in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Cloister and the Hearth
by Charles Reade, illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Heritage Press
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Codfish Musket
by Agnes Hewes, illustrated by Armstrong Sperry
from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
for 8th-12th grade
1937 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$45.00 (1 in stock)
Colonial Entrepreneur
by Olivia Coolidge, edited by Danny Smith
from Tilbury House Publishing
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Colonial Wars Source Book
by Philip J. Haythornthwaite
from Cassell
for 8th-Adult
in Great Britain / England (Location: HISMC-BRIT)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Colosseum
by Peter Quennell
from Newsweek Books
for 7th-12th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Columbia River
by Tom Lashnits
from Facts On File
for 9th-12th grade
in Pacific States (Location: HISV-PNW)
Comes the Comrade!
by Alexandra Orme, translated from the Polish by M.A. Michael and L. Meyer
from William Morrow & Company
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
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