John Fea, who is the chairman of the History Department at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, has written this useful short assessment of why the study of history is a valuable part of one's education. The author has had a good deal of experience in teaching the introductory course in American history and the book reflects that experience as he often uses his former students as examples when illustrating the value of historical study. Much of the book is devoted to describing what the study of history involves and how it can be especially useful to Christians. Fea is also the author of an earlier study, Was American founded as a Christian nation? An historical introduction (Louisville 2011) whose conclusions he sometimes cites in order to illustrate how American history has too often been oversimplified in the search for answers that fit ones preconceptions. In his initial chapter Fea lists what he calls ‘the five C's of historical thinking’. He labels them ‘change over time, context, causality, contingency and complexity’ and explains how each of them is vital for the writing of history. The author argues that, although history serves us in a variety of ways, it is always necessary to be reminded that the past is ‘a foreign country’ in which things are very different from our contemporary experiences so we need to be especially careful that we do not distort the past to fit modern preconceptions. A good deal of the study deals with what Christians can gain from the study of history. Although he is sceptical about the value of what he calls ‘providential history’ in which we try to discern the purposes of God in specific historical events and he devotes a full chapter to that subject, Fea also devotes a chapter to describing what Christians can gain from the study of the past and how Christians might use their faith to aid them in analysing the past. He states that we need to take seriously the biblical teaching that human beings are made in the image of God as well as the reality of human sin in our study of the past. The book includes a useful chapter on how a history major can help one in the job market, listing a number of occupations in which a history major can be a useful asset. Finally, the author includes an appendix devoted to a proposal for a centre for American History and a Civil Society. Although Fea may have tried to include too much in a book of less than 200 pages this is a useful work for both historians and non-historians.