United States History

What should we say about the United States of America? So much has already been said, adding our two cents is a bit redundant or presumptuous, depending on your perspective. Certainly, no one needs us to outline the facts, the major events and figures, or to describe our unique written Constitution and democratic-republican system.

We can offer a bit of perspective. It's nothing new, nothing we came up with on our own, but it is different from a lot of the prevailing notions about both history in general and our nation in particular.

For starters, there's no specific reference to the U.S. in the Bible. The principles found in God's Word that apply to all nations certainly apply to the United States as well, but we aren't a Christian nation, we don't hold a special place in biblical prophecy, and Manifest Destiny is the result of Enlightenment rationalist views about the Progress of Mankind rather than being rooted in any kind of Christian attitude.

That said, many of the first settlers of the New World were dedicated Christians seeking the right to worship God without the constraints of political entanglement or government-imposed strictures and doctrine. The Pilgrims came in 1620, just 13 years after the first successful English settlement at Jamestown, and the Puritan settlers followed soon after.

Their arrivals and colonization didn't make America Christian, of course. It was a broad continent, largely unknown, and the initial colonies weren't strictly bound together at first, as they were later to become. By that time, things had become substantially more secular, so that by the 18th century many Americans were just as degenerate as their European counterparts. Fortunately, men like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield were around to preach the true Gospel, and to initiate a revival known as the Great Awakening.

Secular forces were still at work, though. While there were definitely many Christians involved, the American Revolution was largely the result of Enlightenment philosophizing, and men were convinced that America could produce a virtuous and stable population if education and participatory government were enforced. So they rebelled against England, and the United States republic was formed.

Ever since, groups and individuals have tried to call Americans back to their Christian roots. That's the wrong strategy: we don't need to call anyone back to anything, we need to point the way forward to the pursuit of Christ and the bringing of His Gospel and glory to every corner of the earth no matter what our country of origin. That America has been so materially blessed simply means we have more options at our disposal for proclaiming and bringing the Word to the rest of the world.

Our study of United States history is consequently Christ-centered. Not because we think America is more Christian than other countries, but because it (like all other nations) is under Christ's control as King of Heaven and Lord of Time. Of course, you shouldn't abandon study of the facts, people and events, but they only attain true meaning when viewed through the lens of Christ's ultimate plan of redemption and self-glorification.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes 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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111 Items found Print
Active Filters: Biographies, 9th grade (Ages 14-15), Used Books & Materials
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 Davy Crockett
by David Crockett, illustrated by John W. Thomason
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Amelia Earhart
Lives to Remember
by Burke Davis
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
by Ruud van der Rol & Rian Verhoeven
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Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
by Ruud van der Rol & Rian Verhoeven
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Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank, translated by B. M. Mooyaart-Doubleday with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt
Book Club Edition from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Dover Thrift Editions
by Benjamin Franklin
from Dover Publications
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$6.00 $2.50 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
World's Greatest Literature
by Benjamin Franklin
from Spencer Press
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
B. Franklin, Printer
by David A. Adler
from Holiday House
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$8.00 (2 in stock)
Battle from the Start
by Brian Steel Wills
from HarperCollins
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
Beyond Stateliest Marble
Leaders in Action Series
by Doug Wilson
from Cumberland House
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Biography of James A. Garfield
Sons of Liberty Series
by William Thayer
from A Beka Books
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$9.50 (1 in stock)
Bombs and Blessings
by Retha Hazel Eldridge
from Review and Herald Publishing Association
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
Buffalo Bill
by Helen Cody Wetmore
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 6th-9th grade
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Call of Duty
Leaders in Action Series
by Steve Wilkins
from Cumberland House
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$16.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Captain Edward L. Beach: Around the World Under Water
by Beril Becker
from Kingston House
for 6th-10th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
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)
Cheer the Lonesome Traveller
by Leslie Alexander Lacy, illustrated by James Barkley
from Dial Press
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus
by Samuel Eliot Morison
from Dorset Press
for 8th-11th grade
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Claudette Colvin
by Philip Hoose
from Square Fish Publishing
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2010 Newbery Honor Book, 2010 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, National Book Award
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Come On, Seabiscuit!
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 5th-9th grade
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$14.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Defeating the Totalitarian Lie
by Hilmar Von Campe
from HighWay
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Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank
from International Collectors Library
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank
from Anchor Books
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Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank
from Bantam Books
Biography for 7th-Adult
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Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos
by James F. Hinkle
from Unknown Publisher
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Emancipation Proclomation
by Tonya Bolden
from Abrams Books for Young Readers
for 4th-9th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Escape from Corregidor
by Edward D. Whitcomb
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Explorers, Missionaries, and Trappers
by Kieran Doherty
from Oliver-Nelson Books
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in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Eyewitnesses at the Battle of Franklin
by David R. Logsdon
4th edition
for 9th-Adult
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Faith of Our Fathers: Scenes from American Church History
by Mark Sidwell, editor
from Bob Jones University Press
Church History Reference for 7th-12th grade
in Church History (Location: XCH-HIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Forgotten Founding Father
Leaders in Action Series
by Stephen Mansfield
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-12th grade
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$16.95 $10.00 (2 in stock)
Free Indeed
by Mark Sidwell
Expanded from Bob Jones University Press
Biography for 6th-12th grade
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
George Washington
Sterling Point Books
by Sterling North
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Biography for 5th-9th grade
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
George Washington & the Founding of a Nation
by Albert Marrin
from Dutton Juvenile
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
George Washington's World (pictorial hardcover)
by Genevieve Foster
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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$38.00 (1 in stock)
George Washington: Man and Monument
by Frank Freidel and Lonnelle Aikman
from Washington National Monument Assoc.
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
George Washington: Soldier and Man
by North Callahan
from William Morrow & Company
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
George Whitefield: Wayfaring Witness
by Stuart C. Henry
from Abingdon Press
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Give Me Liberty
Leaders in Action Series
by David Vaughan
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Going Solo
by Roald Dahl
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Harriet Beecher Stowe
by Suzanne M. Coil
from Franklin Watts
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Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller
from Dover Publications
Autobiography for 7th-10th grade
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$1.50 (4 in stock)
Hero Tales
by Theodore Roosevelt & Henry Cabot Lodge
from Cumberland House
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Hero Tales from American Life
by Francis Trevelyan Miller
1994 reprint from Mantle Ministries
for 6th-9th grade
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
History of US Book 7
History of US Book 7
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
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$15.95 $11.00 (2 in stock)
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
by Harriet Jacobs
from Dover Publications
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in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
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Indian Boyhood
by Charles A. Eastman, illustrated by E.L. Blumenschein
from E.M. Hale and Company
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Inventing America: The Life of Benjamin Franklin
by Mark Essig
for 6th-12th grade
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
James Fenimore Cooper
by Donald A. Ringe
from Twayne Publishers
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Jason Lee
Sowers Series
by Charles Ludwig
from Mott Media
Biography for 7th-9th grade
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$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
John Brown Russwurm
by Mary Sagarin, Introduction by Ernest Kaiser
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 9th-Adult
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
John James Audubon: Painting America's Wildlife
by Janet Stevenson, illustrated by Robert Boehmer
from Encyclopedia Britannica
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
John Paul Jones
Sterling Point Books
by Armstrong Sperry
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Biography for 5th-9th grade
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Jonathan and Sarah
by Edna Gerstner
from Soli Deo Gloria
Biography for 9th-Adult
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$10.00 (2 in stock)
Kennedy Assassinated! The World Mourns
by Wilborn Hampton
from Candlewick Press
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1998 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Kinderlager
by Milton J. Nieuwsma
from Scholastic Inc.
for 6th-Adult
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Lady of Arlington
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Lewis and Clark Expedition - 3-volume Set
by Meriwether Lewis
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
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$32.00 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Washington
by Mario Rivoire, translated by C.J. Richards
from Arnoldo Mondadori Editore
Biography for 8th-12th grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Life of General Stonewall Jackson
by Mary Williamson
from Christian Liberty Press
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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$11.75 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Lincoln: A Photobiography
by Russell Freedman
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1988 Newbery Medal winner
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$12.99 $7.50 (5 in stock)
Lindbergh Alone
by Brendan Gill
from Harcourt, Brace & World
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Lives of the Presidents
by Kathleen Krull & Kathryn Hewitt
from Scholastic Inc.
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$5.00 (3 in stock)
Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence
by Benson J. Lossing
3rd Printing from WallBuilder Press
Biography for 7th-10th grade
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
M. C. Higgins, the Great
by Virginia Hamilton
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 6th-10th grade
1975 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Magellan
by Michael Burgan
from Compass Point Books
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in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
March (Book One)
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
from Top Shelf Productions
for 5th-9th grade
Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Book
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
March (Book Two)
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
from Top Shelf Productions
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Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Book
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
March - Boxed Set
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
from Top Shelf Productions
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Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Book
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$24.00 (1 in stock)
Maria
by Maria von Trapp
from Creation House
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Marriage to a Difficult Man
by Elisabeth D. Dodds
from Audobon Press
Biography for 9th-Adult
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Mathew Brady
by James D. Horan
from Bonanza Books
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West
by LeRoy R. Hafen & Harvey L. Carter
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 9th-Adult
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$21.95 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Mr. Lincoln Speaks at Gettysburg
by Mary Kay Phelan
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 6th-9th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee
by David Crockett
Reprint from Bison Books
for 9th-Adult
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$16.95 $8.50 (1 in stock)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
by Frederick Douglass, edited and introduction by David W. Blight
from Bedford Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Never Dies the Dream
by Margaret Landon
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Never Give In
Leaders in Action Series
by Stephen Mansfield
Second Edition from Highland Books
Biography for 9th-Adult
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
New York to Nome
by Rick Steber, Photography by Sheldon Taylor
2007 Revised from Bonanza Publishing
for 8th-Adult
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Oregon Trail
by Francis Parkman, Jr., illustrated by Maynard Dixon
from Heritage Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Oregon Trail
Famous Books for Young Americans
by Francis Parkman
from A. L. Burt Company
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Our Mountain Hermitage
by Anne Roller Issler
from Stanford University Press
for 8th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Outrageous Women of the American Frontier
Outrageous Women
1st edition from Jossey-Bass
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Presidency of George Washington
by Jack D. Warren, Jr.
from University of Virginia Press
Biography for 9th-Adult
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail
by Theodore Roosevelt
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 9th-Adult
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$18.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Ranch under the Rimrock
by Dorothy Lawson McCall
from Binford & Mort Publishing
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Sam Houston
by Noel Gerson
from Doubleday & Company
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Samuel De Champlain
by Samuel E. Morison
from Little, Brown & Company
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Sequoyah and the Cherokee Alphabet
by Robert Cwiklik
from Avyx, Inc.
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$6.00 (3 in stock)
Sir Walter Raleigh and the Quest for El Dorado
by Marc Aronson
from Clarion Books
for 7th-9th grade
2001 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$21.99 $12.00 (2 in stock)
Smiling Rebel
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Standing Like a Stone Wall
by James I. Robertson Jr.
from Atheneum
for 6th-12th grade
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Stonewall Jackson
Sowers Series
by Charles Ludwig
from Mott Media
Biography for 7th-9th grade
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$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Team of Rivals
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
from Simon and Schuster
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
They Had a Dream
by Jules Archer
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 8th-12th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$3.50 (3 in stock)
To Be a Slave
Puffin Modern Classics
by Julius Lester, illustrated by Tom Feelings
from Puffin Books
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-10th grade
1969 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Trails Plowed Under
by Charles M. Russell
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Twelve Seconds to the Moon
by Rosamond Young & Catharine Fitzgerald
2nd edition from Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Twilight Struggle
by Barbara Harrison, Daniel Terris
1st edition from HarperCollins
for 7th-12th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
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