HIS Story of the 20th Century is an engaging look at modern history for advanced middle school as well as high school students. When done along with the workbook (which is sold separately), it can be used for a full high school credit. What I enjoyed about this history curriculum by Meredith Curtis and Powerline Productions is the abundance of often-forgotten or overlooked moments in time and the short fictional stories interspersed throughout the text. I don’t know about you, but when I studied modern history in school, it pretty much wrapped up with World War II and then skimmed through everything from Korea and beyond (despite the fact that more than 50 years had passed between the end of World War II and when I was in high school). 

Here are some of the topics explored in this book that I don’t come across often enough in history courses:

• The Welsh Revival of 1904
• The First and Second Aliyah
• The Balkan League
• Nurse Edith Cavell
• The IRA
• Kristallnacht
• Wernher von Braun
• Miracle at Dunkirk
• Haganah Ship Exodus 1947
• Brother Andrew
• USS Pueblo
• Idi Amin’s Reign of Terror
• Roe vs. Wade
• Homeschooling
• Princess Diana
• Tiananmen Square
• Rwandan Genocide
• Captain Scott O’Grady

There is also lots of fun pop culture history throughout that explores toys and games, art, books, music, fashion, and more. You can learn the history of toys from Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs to Silly Putty and Pac-Man, and just the fashion pictures alone is enough to fuel discussions for hours (my favorite picture is of memorable mullets).

The book also includes history labs that connect hands-on activities to history, such as playing baseball and creating your own suburb.

Another aspect of the course that I enjoyed was the way the author reflected on how certain events grew out of a Biblical worldview (such as missionary movements) or non-Biblical worldviews (such as eugenics as a fruit of evolutionary belief). There are also sections called “Shaping History through Prayer” that highlight ways God’s hand has been seen in human history.

I enjoyed the book’s broad scope and the way it focused on the people of history and not simply the events. The only less-than-stellar thing I saw in the book were some typos and formatting issues, but I do not feel that they detracted enough from the wealth of material covered in the course to be a deterring factor. I hope you’ll check out HIS Story of the 20th Century!

Disclaimer: I received a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.