Landmark Books in Chronological Order (at least the best I could!)

Teaching history chronologically? Wanting to learn more details about the life of an inventor or reformer? Why not add some living books, real books about real events and real people, to your study?

I compiled this chronological listing of Landmark books for two reasons. First, we have always intertwined the teaching of American and world history, reading a piece of historical fiction or biography and posting a representative picture on our time line which stretches the length of our hallway. Most recently, however, we joined a small living history co-op which teaches world history chronologically, focusing on a specific time period each year. We were curious if any of the books we had on our shelves would fit into our upcoming school year. We thought of our Landmark books.

Having a shelf full of Landmark books, I decided to arrange them chronologically (as best I could) so we can research and read from the time period which we will be studying. For those children in my family who prefer the “this looks interesting” method of learning, this chronological listing will be used as reference, should he or she try to place a specific event or person on our family timeline. 

to 467 AD                               Ancient Civilizations                         The World

Book Number	Title	Author
W1	The First Men In the World	Anne Terry White
11	Prehistoric America	Anne Terry White
W59	Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt	Elizabeth Payne
W40	Adventures of Ulysses	Gerald Gottlieb
W18	The Exploits of Xenophon	Geoffrey Household
W2	Alexander the Great	John Gunther
W43	Julius Caesar	John Gunther
W50	Cleopatra of Egypt	Leonora Hornblow
W42	Jesus of Nazareth	Harry Emerson Fosdick
W53	The Life of Saint Paul	Harry Emerson Fosdick

467 - 1453                            Middle Ages                                    The World

Book Number	Title	Author
W17	The Life of Saint Patrick	Quentin Reynolds
W5	King Arthur and His Knights	Mabel Louise Robinson
W41	William the Conqueror	Thomas B. Costain
W11	The Crusades	Anthony West
W12	Genghis Khan and the Mongol	Harold Lamb
W26	The Magna Charta	James Daugherty
W3	Adventures and Discoveries of Marco Polo (see also Age of Exploration and Discovery)	Richard Walsh
W4	Joan of Arc	Nancy Wilson Ross
W30	The Fall of Constantinople	Bernadine Kielty

1400 - 1600                 Renaissance and Reformation         The World

Book Number	Title	Author
W27	Leonardo da Vinci	Emily Hahn
W23	Martin Luther	Harry Emerson Fosdick
W6	Mary, Queen of Scots	Emily Hahn

1200 - 1750        The Age of Exploration and Discovery         The World

Book Number	Title	Author
W3	Adventures and Discoveries of Marco Polo	Richard Walsh
12	The Vikings	Elizabeth Janeway
1	The Voyages of Christopher Columbus	Armstrong Sperry
W25	Balboa: Swordsman Conquistador	Felix Riesenberg
W31	Ferdinand Magellan: Master Mariner	Seymour Gates Pond
W45	Captain Cortes Conquers Mexico	William Johnson
W13	Queen Elizabeth and the Spanish Armada	Francis Winwar
W54	The Voyages of Henry Hudson	Eugene Rachlis
W21	Will Shakespeare and the Globe Theater	Anne Terry White
W36	Exploring the Himalaya	William O. Douglas
3	Pocahontas and Captain John Smith	Marie Lawson
W44	The Story of Australia	A. Grove Day
W39	Chief of the Cossacks	Harold Lamb
W38	The Flight and Adventures of Charles II	Charles Norman
31	The Barbary Pirates	C. S. Forester
W35	Famous Pirates of the New World	A. B. C. Whipple
17	The Explorations of Pere Marquette	Jim Kjelgaard
W19	Captain Cook Explores the South Seas	Armstrong Sperry

1500 - 1763          Colonial America         The United States

Book Number	Title	Author
W58	Walter Raleigh	Henrietta Buckmaster
3	Pocahontas and Captain John Smith	Marie Lawson
2	The Landing of the Pilgrims	James Daugherty
115	The Story of the Thirteen Colonies	Clifford Lindsey Alderman
43	Peter Stuyvesant of Old New York	Anne Erskine
98	William Penn: Quaker Hero	Hildegarde Dolson
122	The Mysterious Voyage of Captain Kidd	A. B. C.Whipple
69	The Witchcraft of Salem Village	Shirley Jackson
W24	Hudson's Bay Company	Richard Morenus
52	The Mississippi Bubble	Thomas B. Costain

1700 - 1850   Enlightenment, Revolution and Independence   The World

Book Number	Title	Author
28	Ben Franklin and Old Philadelphia	Margaret Cousin
W29	Catherine the Great	Katherine Scherman
71	George Washington, Frontier Colonel	Sterling North
4	Paul Revere and the Minute Men	Dorothy Canfield Fisher
66	Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys	Slater Brown
W15	The Slave Who Freed Haiti: The Story of Toussaint Louverture	Katerine Scherman
36	Thomas Jefferson, Father of Democracy	Vincent Sheean
39	John Paul Jones, Fighting Sailor	Armstrong Sperry
26	Betsy Ross and the Flag	Jane Mayer
63	Rogers’ Rangers and the French and Indian War	Bradford Smith
W20	Marie Antoinette	Bernadine Kielty
74	Evangeline and the Acadians	Robert Tallant
W34	The Marquis de Lafayette: Bright Sword of Freedom	Hodding Carter
90	The Swamp Fox of the Revolution	Stewart H. Holbrook
83	The American Revolution	Bruce Bliven
33	The Winter at Valley Forge	Van Wyck Mason
5	Our Independence and the Constitution	Dorothy Canfield Fisher
W14	Simon Bolivar, the Great Liberator	Arnold Whitridge
W55	Hero of Trafalgar	A. B. C. Whipple
W7	Napoleon and the Battle of Waterloo	Frances Winwar
W16	The Story of Scotland Yard	Laurence Thompson

1783 - 1850    Post-Revolution and the New Nation    The United States

Book Number	Title	Author
47	Dolly Madison	Jane Mayer
48	John James Audubon	Margaret and John Kieran
51	Old Ironsides, the Fighting Constitution	Harry Hansen
W28	General Brock and Niagara Falls	Samuel Hopkins Adams
85	Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr	Anna Erskine
19	The Pirate Lafitte and The Battle of New Orleans	Robert Tallant
34	The Erie Canal	Samuel Hopkins Adams
45	Robert Fulton and the Steamboat	Ralph Nading Hill
22	Clipper Ship Days	John Jennings

1787 - 1900             Westward Expansion                The United States

Book Number	Title	Author
21	Daniel Boone	John Mason Brown
24	The Louisiana Purchase	Robert Tallant
15	The Lewis and Clark Expedition	Richard L. Neuberger
65	Sequoyah, Leader of the Cherokees	Alice Marriott
50	War Chief of the Seminoles	Mary McNeer
64	The Greatest Showman: The Life of P.T. Barnum	Joe Bryan III
67	Davy Crockett	Stewart H. Holbrook
32	Sam Houston, the Tallest Texan	William Johnson
79	Remember the Alamo!	Robert Penn Warren
72	The Texas Rangers	Will Henry
76	Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too!	Stanley Young
29	Trapper and Traders of the Far West	James Daugherty
91	Heroines of the Early West	Nancy Wilson Ross
53	Kit Carson and the Wild Frontier	Ralph Moody
13	The Santa Fe Trail	Samuel Hopkins Adams
113	Young Mark Twain and the Mississippi	Harnett T. Kane
25	Wild Bill Hickok Tames the Wild West	Stewart H. Holbrook
42	The Pioneers Go West to California by Covered Wagon	George R. Stewart
37	The Coming of the Mormons	Jim Kjelgaard
67	Wyatt Earp, U.S. Marshall	Stewart H Holbrook
6	The California Gold Rush	May McNeer
40	The First Overland Mail	Robert Pinkerton
7	The Pony Express	Samuel Hopkins Adams
93	The Golden Age of Railroads	Stewart H. Holbrook
81	Geronimo: Wolf of the Warpath	Ralph Moody
20	Custer’s Last Stand	Quentin Reynolds
60	Up the Trail from Texas	J. Frank Dobie
73	Buffalo Bill’s Great Wild West Show	Walter Havighurst
92	The Alaska Gold Rush	May McNeer

1861 - 1865                       The Civil War                 The United States

Book Number	Title	Author
61	Abe Lincoln: Log Cabin to White House	Sterling North
54	Robert E. Lee and the Road to Honor	Hodding Carter
86	Stonewall Jackson	Jonathan Daniels
58	Clara Barton, Founder of the American Red Cross	Helen Boylston
44	Lincoln and Douglas: The Years of Decision	Regina Z. Kelly
16	The Monitor and the Merrimac	Fletcher Pratt
23	Gettysburg	MacKinlay Kantor
8	Lee and Grant at Appomattox	MacKinlay Kantor

1837 - 1900           The Victorian Era and Imperialism         The World

Book Number	Title	Author
56	Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan	Ferdinanad Kuhn
W37	Queen Victoria	Noel Streatfeild
W46	Florence Nightingale	Ruth Fox Hume
W22	The French Foreign Legion	Wyatt Blassingame
W32	Garibaldi: Father of Modern Italy	Marcia Davenport

1820 - 1900    Industrialization and Innovation         The United States

Book Number	Title	Author
93	The Golden Age of Railroads	Stewart H. Holbrook
80	Andrew Carnegie and the Age of Steel	Katherine B. Shippen
88	The First Transatlantic Cable	Adele Gutman Nathan
30	Mr. Bell Invents the Telephone	Katherine B. Shippen
9	The Building of the First Transcontinental Railroad	Adele Gutman Nathan
109	Disaster at Johnstown, the Great Flood	Hildegarde Dolson

1880 - 1920   Around the World at the Turn of the Century   The World

Book Number	Title	Author
41	Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders	Henry Castor
68	The Early Days of the Automobiles	Elizabeth Janeway
38	George Washington Carver, the Story of a Great American	Anne Terry White
75	The Story of the Secret Service	Ferdinand Kuhn
W9	The Man Who Changed China: The Story of Sun Yat-sen	Pearl S. Buck
10	The Wright Brothers	Quentin Reynolds
110	The Story of Alva Edison	Margaret Cousins
18	The Panama Canal	Bob Considine
59	The Story of San Francisco	Charlotte Jackson
27	The Conquest of the North and South Poles	Russell Owen

1914 - 1945          World War I to World War II         The United States

Book Number	Title	Author
52	The Mississippi Bubble	Thomas B. Costain
W60	Flying Aces of World War I	Gene Gurney
W8	Royal Canadian Mounted Police	Richard L Neuberger
W33	The Story of Albert Schweitzer	Anita Daniel
100	The Story of Oklahoma	Lon Tinkle
78	The Doctors Who Conquered Yellow Fever	Ralph Nading Hill
W47	The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler	William L. Shirer
103	The Seabees of World War II	Edmund Castillo
116	Combat Nurses of World War II	Wyatt Blassingame
120	Medical Corps Heroes of World War II	Wyatt Blassingame
106	The U. S. Frogmen of World War II	Wyatt Blassingame
W61	Commandos of World War II	Hodding Carter
W10	The Battle of Britain	Quentin Reynolds
87	The Battle for the Atlantic	Jay Williams
W51	The Sinking of the Bismarck	William L. Shirer
94	From Pearl Harbor to Okinawa	William L. Shirer
105	The Flying Tigers	John Toland
35	Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo	Captain Ted Lawson
55	Guadalcanal Diary	Richard Tregaskis
119	Midway, Battle for the Pacific	Richard Tregaskis
99	John F. Kennedy and PT 109	Richard Tregaskis
112	From Casablanca to Berlin	Bruce Blevin, Jr.
114	The Battle of the Bulge	John Toland
62	The Story of D-Day: June 6, 1944	Bruce Bliven, Jr.
118	The Battle for Iwo Jima	Robert Leckie

1947 - 1991     The Cold War and Space Exploration         The World

Book Number	Title	Author
W48	The Story of Atomic Energy	Laura Fermi
W57	The War of Korea: 1950 - 1953	Robert Leckie
108	Dwight D. Eisenhower	Malcom Moos
101	Americans into Orbit: The Story of Project Mercury	Gene Gurney
117	Walk in Space: The Story of Project Gemini	Gene Gurney

* Please note: Historical eras and dates are debated, even documented and titled differently dependent on the source.  I did my best to list the books in the best chronological sequence possible based on the time frame and content of the book, which often spans many years. This listing is a guide and parents are encouraged to read the literature they intend to hand to their children.

Why do the names associated with eras differ? Why are certain eras labeled differently by different sources? What do different sources pinpoint a particular date as the starting or ending of an era? These are great questions to ponder and dialogue about with your children. Ask questions. Find answers together.

For children (or parents) curious about the military history of the United States, Landmark offers quite a selection. This list is not in chronological order.

1800 - Present                       The Armed Forces                       The World

Book Number	Title	Author
82	The Story of the Paratroops	George Weller
14	The Story of the U. S. Marines	George Hunt
70	The West Point Story	Colonel Red Reeder
97	The Story of the U. S. Coast Guard	Eugene Rachlis
84	The Story of the Naval Academy	Felix Riesenberg, Jr.
102	The Story of Submarines	George Weller
121	Flat-Tops: The Story of Aircraft Carriers	Edmund Castillo
89	The Story of the U.S. Air Force	Robert Loomis
111	Medal of Honor Heroes	Colonel Red Reeder
104	The U. S. Border Patrol	Clement Hellyer
75	The Story of the Secret Service	Ferdinand Kuhn

I hope this listing will be as helpful to you as it is for us, whether you study history chronologically or from a “this looks interesting” method. Enjoy these WONDERFUL literary treasures!