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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...and now Miguel
by Joseph Krumgold
from Thomas Crowell
for 5th-8th grade
1954 Newbery Medal winner
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$6.40 (1 in stock)
1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving
by Catherine O'Neill Grace
from National Geographic
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1776
by David McCullough
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1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History
by Jay Winik
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500 Nations
by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance
by Frances Cavanah
from Rand McNally
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
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Abraham Lincoln in Peace and War
by Earl Schenck Miers
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Across America, I Love You
by Christine Loomis, illustrated by Kate Kiesler
from Hyperion Press
for 2nd-4th grade
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$7.99 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Other Stories
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
from Canterbury Classics
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Africa
by Yvonne Ayo
1st edition from DK Publishing
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Africa's Vanishing Wildlife
by Chris & Tilde Stuart
1st edition from Smithsonian Books
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Air Forces of the World
by Sue Butterworth, editor
from Chartwell Books
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Alamo All Stars
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #6
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
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Amazing Mr. Doolittle
by Quentin Reynolds
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Amazon River
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America and Its People
by Laureat Bernard,Ralph Brande, Don Sharkey
from W. H. Sadlier
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America in the 1900s and 1910s
Decades of American History
by Jim Callan
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America in the 1930s
Decades of American History
by Jim Callan
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
America in the 1950s
Decades of American History
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America in the 1960s
Decades of American History
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America in the 1970s
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America in the 1990s
by George Ochoa
from Facts On File
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America is Born
A History for Peter #1
by Gerald W. Johnson (iilustrations by Leonard Everett Fisher)
from William Morrow & Company
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$45.00 (1 in stock)
America is....
by Louise W. Borden, illustrated by Stacey Schuett
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
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America the Beautiful/ A Man of Destiny
by the editors of Country Beautiful Magazine
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America's Fascinating Indian Heritage
by James A. Maxwell
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America's Lost Dream
by Tom Dooley
from Master Books
American History for 4th-6th grade
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America: A Patriotic Primer
by Lynne Cheney
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America: A Patriotic Primer
by Lynne Cheney
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American Barns and Covered Bridges
by Eric Sloane
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American Children Through Their Books
by Sister Monica Kiefer
1970 printing from University of Pennsylvania Press
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American Faith
by Kevin Swanson with Joshua Schwisow, Daniel Noor, and Peter Bringe
2nd edition from Generations
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$31.50 (1 in stock)
American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 1
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 10
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 6
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 7
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 8
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American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans Volume 9
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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
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American Indian Dances
by John L. Squires & Robert E. McLean
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American Indian Tales and Legends
by Vladimir Hulpach, illustrated by Miloslav Troup
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American President
by Philip Kunhardt, Jr., Philip Kunhardt III, Peter Kunhardt
from Riverhead Books
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American Story: The Revolutionaries
Time-Life: The American Story
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American Yesterday
by Eric Sloane
15th Printing from Funk & Wagnalls
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An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth
by M. K. Gandhi
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$4.80 (1 in stock)
Ancient China
by Judith Simpson
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Ancient Rome
Discoveries Series
by Dr. Paul C. Roberts
from Barnes & Noble
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Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
from World Publishing Company
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1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
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Ann And Liv Cross Antarctica
by Ann Bancroft, Liv Arnesen
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Apache Land
by Ross Santee
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Appomattox
by Burke Davis
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Aquila's Drinking Gourd
by Pamela Dell
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Arabs in the Golden Age
by Mokhtar Moktefi & Veronique Ageorges
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Art and Artists of Russia
by Richard Hare
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Art and Civilization: Ancient Rome
Art and Civilization
by Giovanni Di Pasquale & Matilde Bardi
from Peter Bedrick Books
Roman History Reference for 4th-6th grade
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$9.00 (2 in stock)
Art of the Southeastern Indians
by Shirley Glubok
from Macmillan
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At the End of the Santa Fe Trail
by Sister Blandina Segale
4th Printing from Bruce Publishing Co.
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Atlas of Oregon
by William G. Loy (director and cartographer), text by Clyde P. Patton
from University of Oregon
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Atlas of the Islamic World
by Francis Robinson
from Facts On File
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August 1914
by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, translated by Michael Glenny
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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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 Benvenuto Cellini
by Benvenuto Cellini
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Autobiography of William Allen White
by William Allen White
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B is for Beaver
by Marie & Roland Smith, illustrated by Michael Roydon
from Sleeping Bear Press
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B is for Bluegrass
Discover America State-by-State
by Mary Ann McCabe Riehle, illustrated by Wes Burgiss
from Sleeping Bear Press
for nursery-3rd grade
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B. Franklin, Printer
by David A. Adler
from Holiday House
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Bad Faith
by Carmen Callil
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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Bad River Boys
by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, illustrated by Bill Farnsworth
from Holiday House
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Battle from the Start
by Brian Steel Wills
from HarperCollins
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Battles of the Ancient World: 1285 BC ~ AD 451
by Kelly Devries, et. al
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for 6th-8th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Beautiful Blue Jay and Other Tales of India
by John W. Spellman, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
1st edition from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
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$7.20 (1 in stock)
Beechcraft: Pursuit of Perfection
by Edward H. Phillips
from Flying Books
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Before Columbus
by Charles C. Mann
from Atheneum
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Before Columbus
by Charles C. Mann
from Atheneum
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Beggar's King
by Howard C. Emmons
from Van Kampen Press
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Behave Yourself, Bethany Brant
by Patricia Beatty
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Behind the Scenes
by Elizabeth Keckley, edited by Frances Smith Foster
from Lakeside Press
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Being American in Europe 1750-1860
by Daniel Kilbride
from Johns Hopkins University Press
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Benjamin in the Woods
Wonder Books Easy Reader
by Eleanor Clymer, illustrated by William Russell
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$5.60 (1 in stock)
Betsy Ross and the Flag
Landmark #26
by Jane Mayer, illustrated by Grace Paull
from Random House
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Better a Shield Than a Sword
by Edward Teller
from Free Press
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$6.40 (1 in stock)
Big Annie of Calumet
by Jerry Stanley
1st edition
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Big Golden Book of Christopher Columbus and Other Early Adventurers
by Russell Bourne, illustrated by Thomas LaPadula
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Big Red Kangaroo
by Claire Saxby, illustrated by Graham Byrne
from Candlewick Press
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Biggest (and best) Flag That Ever Flew
by Rebecca C. Jones, illustrated by Charles Geer
from Tidewater Publishers
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Biography of a Rhino
by Alice L. Hopf; illustrated by Kiyo Komoda
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
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$44.00 (1 in stock)
Birchbark House
by Louise Erdrich
from Hyperion/Madison Press
Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
National Book Award Finalist
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$4.80 (1 in stock)
Black Elk's Vision
by S. D. Nelson
from Abrams Books for Young Readers
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Black Man in America
from Franklin Watts
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Black Symbol
by Annabel & Edgar Johnson
from Harper & Row
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$4.80 (1 in stock)
Blizzard!
by Jim Murphy
from Scholastic Press
for 4th-6th grade
2001 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Blockade Runners and Ironclads
by Wallace B. Black
from Franklin Watts
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Blow Ye Winds Westerly
by Elizabeth Gemming
1st edition from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Blue and the Gray
by Thomas B. Allen, Photography by Sam Abell
from National Geographic
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Book of the American Indians
Brown Paper School USKids History
by Marlene Smith-Baranzini & Howard Egger-Bovet
from Little, Brown & Company
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in Native American History (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
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