The Picturesque Tale of Progress

I’ve looked at Picturesque Tale but never read them all the way through.  They  looked lovely, though.

The History of US.  Um, “somewhat liberal worldview” doesn’t quite cut it.  The bias in these books is pronounced and unmistakable.  It becomes much worse in the post-Civil War books.  If you read these, your children will be taught that business owners are bad, labor is good, FDR is practically a deity worthy of pages and pages of paeans, while Reagan gets brief mentions, practically everything done by the US postwar is horrible, and feminism saved modern society.  🙂  Depending on your point of view, you’ll either love these books or want to throw them out the window.  🙂 Since Hakim doesn’t really back up her statements, there is not much of a way of entering into a mental debate with her, one reason for reading books you don’t agree with.  The books look nice, with good photos.  That’s about all I have good to say about them though. 

Well, I just bought a set of the Picturesque Tale’s on ebay.  I have been looking for a colorful set of “spine” books for my kids. I have looked at Church, Synge, Guerber, etc and I would have gone with Guerber except that it is more money.  From what I can tell the PT start with an iffy beginning along the lines of Hillyer’s CHOW, but then cover both Jesus and the missionary trips of Paul so I am assuming (and I hope rightly) that they are a little more bible-friendly than other book sets I have looked at. I guess I will use my Master Books books to cover the ice age and Ruth Beechick’s Adam and his Kin/ Genesis Finding our Roots to cover early history and then move into the end of the first volume in  PT.

I heard so many great things about this author’s My Book House Series that I though it would be safe to try these as well. I will let you know more when I get them, but please, anyone jump in here who have read them. It would be nice to know if there is any on-the-fly editing that needs to be done.

I agree w/ bookworm regarding History of US. 

I actually own the set of Olive Miller books – A Picturesque Tale of Progress, but have never used them. I need to look them over again, I guess.

Christie

I’ll offer my opinion here regarding Hakim’s books.  I think they can be useful and I would “put them on the same shelf” (so to speak) as Howard Zinn’s Young People’s History of the United States.  I keep in mind whenever reading any history book that someone is handing me a subtle perspective, whether social, political or cultural (etc) and in most cases all of the above and more!  I’ve read many history books which come from the opposite end of the political and/or ideological spectrum and have found just as many flaws and ommissions as there are in Hakim’s.  History just isn’t always a straightforward deal and it’s a shame that the way most of us were educated made us believe it is a cold, hard science of facts and dates when it really isn’t.  If you don’t feel equipped to filter out the obvious biases of historians then I would stick closer to something which reflects the worldview you are instilling in your children.  Otherwise, I feel quite comfortable utilizing history books like Hakim’s and Zinn’s in my own way when they cover a time period, war or movement with more honesty.   I know this might make some folks uncomfortable and I’ll be happy to clarify if need be, but that’s my two cents for what it’s worth

Rachel

P.S.  I personally didn’t buy the History of US, but we do check them out from the  library from time to time so I can pull stories and share pictures from them, which are very well done.  That’s how I utilize it without having to buy a set!

In case anyone is interested, I will include some info on the set and the breakdown of each book. I have the 9 volume set dated 1952. I haven’t used them yet, but I plan to incorporate them into our SCM study of Egypt as an additional resource.

A complete set usually has 8 or 9 books.   In later sets, the 9th is an index.  Early covers are greenish;  later ones are black. In the 60’s, a version was published in 4 volumes;  it is titled The Story of Mankind, with Picturesque Tale of Progress as the subtitle.

The titles are:

Beginnings 1
Beginnings 2
Conquests 1
Conquests 2
New Nations 1
New Nations 2
Explorations 1
Explorations 2

The 4 volume version combines 1 and 2 of each title in one book – smaller size with red covers.  It is usually quite a bit cheaper and the illustrations are not as nice as those in the older sets.

<h1>A Picturesque Tale of Progress </h1>

Beginnings I starts with an unconsciously fictional piece on “early man,” followed by excellent coverage of the rise and fall of Egypt.

Beginnings II covers Babylonia, the Assyrian empire, and an extensive overview of biblical history from Abraham to the Fall of Jerusalem.

Conquests I follows the history of first Crete and then Greece, from its rise as a political state through the conquests of Alexander the Great.

Conquests II teaches the history of Rome. It includes extensive coverage of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His life on Earth as well as the missionary journeys of Paul and the peaceful conquest of Rome by Christianity.

New Nations I covers the Fall of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Medieval Church, the Vikings, and the Feudal Age.

New Nations II reveals the glory of the Byzantine Empire, the Crusades and their effects, Spain and the Moors, the development of England, France as a monarchy, Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, and Italy and the Renaissance.

Explorations I covers Marco Polo, Genghis Khan, the conquests of the Mongols, and Africa and India.

Explorations II follows the New World from ancient times. The voyages of Leif Ericsson and Columbus introduce extensive treatment of the peoples in the Americas, with special focus on the civilizations of Mexico, Central America, and southwestern America and their conquest by the Spanish.  The series ends here–with the discovery of America and the conquest of its native peoples.

The ninth volume is an invaluable index to peoples and places throughout world history from Ancient Egypt through the discovery and conquest of America.

God bless!

Sharon

I’m pretty excited to get this!  I was looking for a spine that was more in-depth than CHOW that had pictures.  This should be perfect save for the first volume. I got the nine volume set from the early ’50’s. 

Now I am not looking forward to gettting it all inputted into the organizer…but that is part of the fun right?

I shouldn’t whine, but I just put in three Mara Pratt American History books, so my fingers are tired, LOL.

Thank you Sonya.

For those that are interested in the PTP book review, you can find it at:  http://www.valerieslivingbooks.info/ptp.htm

God bless!

Sharon Nelson