This is our family’s fifth foray in the TAN Books history curriculum series. The two Story of the Bible volumes. And now the 3 Story of Civilization volumes by Phillip Campbell. I can’t state enough how great these books (and audiobooks!) are, and how much it means to have a solidly Catholic history curriculum for our children to learn from. These volumes from Campbell do not gloss over the uglier, messier parts of Catholic history, but they give Catholicism “a fair shake” compared to the blatantly anti-Catholic materials out there from other publishers.
It seems that each of these 5 volumes has gotten better and better. Perhaps part of it is that more recent history is more appealing, but saying that would do a disservice to the previous volumes which were wonderful in their own right. These audiobooks are enjoyable for kids and adults alike. The production quality is some of the best I’ve ever heard – with music, sound effects and character voices that might skew toward the younger crowd a little – but only a little. The scenes are vivid and the narrator is easy to listen to – keeping the stories alive with realistic character voices from different times and places. It beats the socks off of nails-on-the-chalkboard things the kids usually want to listen to. Plus, we get the benefit of knowing that they are learning real history, without it corroding respect for the massively positive influence the Church had on western civilization for centuries and centuries.
I’m learning history more now than I did when I was in school. Thank you TAN!