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Vintage History & Biographies

There is a subtle difference between "history" and "current events." At the time of this writing, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and Israel is engaged in a conflict with Hamas. Our world has just resurfaced from the fear spread by COVID-19 and the reactions it spurred, and the United States government is trying to figure out how to combat (or not) a surge of illegal immigration on our Southern border. These are all "historical events" and much is being written about them even as I type. But while facts are facts, we currently don't have them all and lack perspective. 

Two common quotes immediately jump to mind.

The first: "hindsight is 20/20." The idea behind this is that we can see more clearly things that are in our past; as we unearth information and take the time to understand multiple points of view, histories will be written. Many of these will be excellent, though never completely without bias, because of the second saying: "history is written by the victors." The primary sources—and the propaganda—of today will influence the histories of tomorrow.

So vintage history books are a funny thing. Being closer to the original events, some authors had the opportunity to witness the events they write about, or meet their subjects. As such, many of these authors were writing about what, for them, were essentially current events, and thus the books have primary (or secondary) source value. But they are products of their time, and were not immune to propaganda or inaccuracies themselves: the worldviews and prejudices of the authors influenced their work. Others, writing with longer perspective, often had access to sources or witnesses who have since passed away. Either way, views on race, gender, colonization, climate change and many other topics were often vastly different than those of people today; some for the good, and some not so good.

Many of the books here were written in the 1940s-60s, when the USA was fresh from victory in WWII. You might say America was at the peak of her power and glory, though she was then competing for world dominance with the USSR. That isn't to say she was always at her best, but there was a huge drive to educate her youth about her past and her heroes. The Landmark Books, Signature Books, Julian Messner biographies, and many others brought excellent authors and their topics into view of children. Not all of the books are about America, but most of them are, and it's a fair criticism that the selection here is Ameri- and Eurocentric. Looking at the world with a broader lens is generally a blessing of newer publications.

As with anything, when using history books for the education of children, care has to be taken. Keep in mind that good history is question-driven, not philosophy-driven. It's honest about the past, and doesn't whitewash horrible events. It doesn't impose biases onto primary sources or promote a certain perspective by manipulating data; good history lets the historical facts speak for themselves. We won't say all of the books here are good; we WILL say they provide different viewpoints, both for texts from their own time and for those of today. But it is important to read a range of books, both older and newer, to truly understand a diversity of perspectives.

We're working to add more books to this list all the time, and we want to make them as accessible as possible, so we're linking to online versions whenever we can. Look for links to Project Gutenberg, Internet Archive, and other sources!

Introduction by Eli Evans
Formerly home educated and now father of five, Eli loves discovering amazing books, new and old, and is an artistic curator at heart. The owner and manager of Exodus since 1998, his focus is on offering thoughtful and well-written books that inspire the imagination and promote creativity and diligence while living for God. Read more of his reviews here.
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Active Filters: 9th grade (Ages 14-15), Used Books & Materials
Abe Lincoln
by Hilah Paulmier (compiled and edited by), illustrated by Lee Ames
First Edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
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 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
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
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)
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)
All Hands Aloft!
by Lou A. Schmitt
from Howell-North
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Amelia Earhart
Lives to Remember
by Burke Davis
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
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)
Americans Before Columbus
by Elizabeth Baity, illustrated by C.B. Falls
from Viking Press
for 5th-10th grade
1952 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
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.
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Apollo on the Moon
by Henry S. F. Cooper, Jr.
from Dial Press
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
World's Greatest Literature
by Benjamin Franklin
from Spencer Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Battle of Salerno
Italy, September 1943-1945
by Irving Werstein, with maps by Ava Morgan
First Edition from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Black Man in America
from Franklin Watts
for 6th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.50 (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)
Captain Edward L. Beach: Around the World Under Water
by Beril Becker
from Kingston House
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Cheer the Lonesome Traveller
by Leslie Alexander Lacy, illustrated by James Barkley
from Dial Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Crusades: Iron Men & Saints
by Harold Lamb
from International Collectors Library
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
English Children's Costume
1965 Reprint from A & C Black Ltd.
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Escape from Corregidor
by Edward D. Whitcomb
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
for 6th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Fighting Indian Warriors
by E. A. Brininstool
from Stackpole Books
for 9th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Frederic Chopin
by Victor Seroff
from Macmillan
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
George Washington's World (pictorial hardcover)
by Genevieve Foster
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$38.00 (1 in stock)
George Washington: Man and Monument
by Frank Freidel and Lonnelle Aikman
from Washington National Monument Assoc.
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
George Whitefield: Wayfaring Witness
by Stuart C. Henry
from Abingdon Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Golden Bible Atlas
Ninth printing from Golden Books
for 8th-Adult
in Bible Geography and Surveys (Location: XBI-GEO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Guns Off Cape Ann
by Kenneth Poolman
from Evans Brothers Limited
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Henry M. Stanley
Lives to Remember
by Robert Edmond Alter
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Heritage of Freedom
by Frank Monaghan
from Princeton University Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
History From the Renaissance to Napoleon
The Wonder Books History of the World
from University of Knowledge
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
History Sings
by Hazel Gertrude Kinscella
from University Publishing Company
American Music History for 7th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Indian Boyhood
by Charles A. Eastman, illustrated by E.L. Blumenschein
from E.M. Hale and Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
James Fenimore Cooper
by Donald A. Ringe
from Twayne Publishers
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
John James Audubon: Painting America's Wildlife
by Janet Stevenson, illustrated by Robert Boehmer
from Encyclopedia Britannica
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Kate Greenaway Book
by Bryan Holme, with illustrations by Kate Greenaway
from Gallery Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Lewis and Clark Expedition - 3-volume Set
by Meriwether Lewis
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$32.00 (1 in stock)
Lexington Goes Down
by A. A. Hoehling
from Prentice Hall
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Beethoven
by Gino Pugnetti
from Curtis Publishing Co.
Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Chopin
by Adelaide Murgia
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Elizabeth I
by Massimo Rossaro
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Louis XIV
by Alfredo Panicucci
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Napoleon
by Mario Rivoire
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Life & Times of Peter the Great
by Giancarlo Buzzi
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of St. Francis
by Agostino Ghilardi
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Life & Times of Washington
by Mario Rivoire, translated by C.J. Richards
from Arnoldo Mondadori Editore
Biography for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Life World Library: Australia and New Zealand
by Colin McInnes
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Life World Library: Britain
by John Osborne
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Life World Library: Canada
by Brian Moore
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Life World Library: Central America
by Harold Lavine
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Life World Library: China
by Loren Fessler
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Life World Library: Colombia and Venezuela and the Guianas
by Gary MacEoin
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Life World Library: Germany
by Terence Prittie
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Life World Library: Greece
by Alexander Eliot
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (4 in stock)
Life World Library: Ireland
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Life World Library: Italy
by Herbert Kubly
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Life World Library: Japan
by Edward Seidensticker
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Life World Library: Mexico
by William Weber Johnson
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Life World Library: Russia
by Charles W. Thayer
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (4 in stock)
Life World Library: Scandinavia
by Hammond Innes
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Life World Library: South Africa
by Tom Hopkinson
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Life World Library: Southeast Asia
by Stanley Karnow
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Life World Library: Spain
by Hugh Thomas
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Life World Library: Switzerland
by Herbert Kubly
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (4 in stock)
Life World Library: The Andean Republics
by William Weber Johnson
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Life World Library: The Arab World
by Desmond Stewart
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Life World Library: The Low Countries
by Eugene Rachlis
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Life World Library: The River Plate Republics
by J. Halcro Ferguson
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Life World Library: The United States
by Patrick O'Donovan, Marcus Cunliffe, Alain Clement, Massimo Salvadori, Sigmund Skard, Peter von Zahn, Max Warren, Herbert von Borch, Raymond Aron
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Life World Library: The West Indies
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Life World Library: Tropical Africa
by Robert Coughlan
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (3 in stock)
Life World Library: Turkey
by Desmond Stewart
from Time Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Life World Library (Location: ZCLE-LWL)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Long Ships: A Saga of the Viking Age
by Frans G. Bengtsson, translated from the Swedish by Michael Meyer
7th Printing from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$60.00 (1 in stock)
Lost Continent of Atlantis
by James Wyckoff, Illustrated by Robert Sargent
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$50.00 (1 in stock)
Maria Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina
by Elisabeth P. Myers
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 6th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Mathew Brady
by James D. Horan
from Bonanza Books
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
More Minute Biographies
by Samuel Nisenson and Alfred Parker
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Mountain Men
by George Frederick Ruxton, edited and illustrated by Glen Rounds
from Holiday House
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mr. Lincoln Speaks at Gettysburg
by Mary Kay Phelan
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Mr. Lincoln's Army
by Bruce Catton
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
Historical Fiction for 7th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Paddle-Wheel Days in California
from Stanford University Press
for 8th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Pageant of Medieval Art and Life
by Richard McLananthan
from Westminster Press
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Picturesque Washington
by Byron MacPherson (drawings and research), designed by Bert L. Swezea, edited by J.M. Finley
from Pioneer Publishing Co.
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Pioneer Aircraft 1903-14
by Kenneth Munson, illustrated by John W. Wood
from Macmillan
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Prospects of a Golden Age
by John Dos Passos
from Prentice Hall
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Queen Elizabeth I: Forging an Empire
by Elizabeth Linington, illustrated by Robert Boehmer
from Kingston House
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Ranch under the Rimrock
by Dorothy Lawson McCall
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Saints and Strangers
by George F. Willison
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Sam Houston
by Noel Gerson
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
San Francisco Bay
by John Haskell Kemble
from Cornell Maritime Press
for 7th-12th grade
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Shorter Life of D. L. Moody
Moody Colportage Library #83
by A. P. Fitt
from Moody Press
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Skipper of the Sentinel
by May Cole Kuhn
from Review and Herald Publishing Association
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
South Sea Shilling
by Eric Swenson
First Edition from Viking Press
for 7th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Declaration of Independence
by Dumas Malone; pictures by Hirst Milhollen and Milton Kaplan
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
The Arts
by Hendrik Willem Van Loon
from Simon and Schuster
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (2 in stock)
These Wonderful People
by Noel Ames
from People's Book Club
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Thomas Jefferson
by Gene Lisitzky
from E.M. Hale and Company
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Thomas Jefferson and His World
by Henry Moscow
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Three Against the Wilderness
by Eric Collier
6th Printing, 1960 from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Trailblazer of American Science
by Sarah R. Riedman
Printing 'B' from Rand McNally
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
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