APUSHistory

SummerAssignment2016-2017

Mr.Heffernan

NorthernHighlandsRegionalHighSchool

WelcometoAPUSHistory.Thecourseisacollege-level coursethatwillrequireextensive knowledgeandunderstandingofUSHistory.Itisimperativetohaveastrongfoundationasaclass forourreturninSeptember.

ASSIGNMENT

Please read American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North Americaby Colin Woodard.

In American Nations, Woodard presents a complicated and bold thesis about American history. Take note of the lense through which Woodard examines the history of the United States. As you read, familiarize yourself with the prominent arguments, recurring themes, and the methodologies Woodard uses to prove his thesis/argument for American Nations.

  • Read the introduction carefully, it is here that Woodard establishes his purpose and argument.
  • In the early sections pay attention to the role that the physical environment plays in the shaping/forming of cultural identity.
  • Throughout the book, particularly in the later chapters, consider the way past events contribute to a historical continuity, particularly in culture.
  • Consider how cultural orientation can shape the way events unfold.
  • Consider how the past shapes the present.

Be a critical and receptive reader.

We will discuss the book in the first week of class.

Synopsis of American Nations

North America was settled by people with distinct religious, political, and ethnographic characteristics, creating regional cultures that have been at odds with one another ever since. Subsequent immigrants didn't confront or assimilate into an "American" or "Canadian" culture, but rather into one of the eleven distinct regional ones that spread over the continent each staking out mutually exclusive territory.
Woodard leads us on a journey through the history of our fractured continent, and the rivalries and alliances between its component nations, which conform to neither state nor international boundaries. He illustrates and explains why "American" values vary sharply from one region to another. Woodard reveals how intranational differences have played a pivotal role at every point in the continent's history, from the American Revolution and the Civil War to the tumultuous sixties and the "blue county/red county" maps of recent presidential elections.American Nationsis a revolutionary and revelatory take on America's myriad identities and how the conflicts between them have shaped our past and are molding our future.

Purpose

The AP US History course has a large course curriculum load that can often feel overwhelming. American Nationsdeals with a number of the important themes within the College Board’s Curriculum including Identity; Peopling; Politics and Power; Environment and Geography; and Ideas, Beliefs, and Culture through his examination of American history. This goal of the assignment is to get students into the mindset of the course by reading a text that challenges established historical belief systems, as well as by displaying the construction of a complicated historical argument, which are essential skills in the AP United States History course. By focusing on Woodard’s salient arguments in the text, we will be able to use the book as a discussion point throughout the school year.

APUSH

Optional Reading List

None of the books below are required reading for the course or for summer reading, However, the books on this listcovera variety oftopicsin American History.Thesebooks maybeuseful in expanding your knowledgeand understandingof US history. If you’re interested in American history, reading or familiarizing yourselfwithsomeof thesebooks over the course of the year will assistin your understandingof US History as a whole. So if you find yourself with nothing to read this summer, check out the list, and perhaps give one of these a read!

Discovery& Colonial Era

  • NewWorlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and theRemakingof Early America– Colin Calloway
  • ThePuritanDilemma:TheStoryof John Winthrop – Edmund Morgan
  • Mayflower:A Storyof Courage, Community,and War – Nathaniel Philbrick
  • TheWordy Shipmates– Sarah Vowell
  • Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America – Eric Dolin
  • A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World - Tony Horwitz

TheEmergence& Riseof theAmericanRepublic

  • TheFederalistPapers
  • TheAutobiography of BenFranklin – BenFranklin
  • TheBirth of theRepublic,1763-1789– Edmund Morgan
  • Lafayette in the Somewhat United States – Sarah Vowell

Antebellum Period

  • ManifestDestiny:AmericanExpansion and theEmpire of Right– Stephan Anderson
  • TheKingdom of Matthias:A Storyof Sex and Salvation in 19thCenturyAmerica – PaulJohnson
  • Walden – Henry David Thoreau
  • 12 Years a Slave – Solomon Northup
  • Honor and Slavery: Lies, Duels, Noses, Masks, Dressing as a Woman, Gifts, Strangers, Humanitarianism,

Death, Slave Rebellions, the Proslavery Argument, Baseball, Hunting, and Gambling in the Old South – Kenneth Greenberg

TheCivil War

  • Confederatesin theAttic:DispatchesfromtheUnfinished Civil War – TonyHorwitz
  • Midnight Rising:John Brown and theRaid thatSparked theCivil War – TonyHorwitz
  • BattleCry ofFreedom:TheCivil War Era – JamesMcPherson
  • Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln – Doris Kearns Goodwin
  • 1861: The Civil War Awakening – Adam Goodheart
  • This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War – Drew Gilpin Faust

Reconstruction

  • Reconstruction:America’sUnfinished Revolution,1863-1877 – Eric Foner

TheGilded Age/AmericanCapitalism

  • American Colossus:TheTriumph of Capitalism,1865-1900 -H.W. Brands
  • The Money Men: Capitalism, Democracy, and the Hundred Years’ War Over the American Dollar – H.W. Brands
  • Greenback Planet: How the Dollar Conquered the World and Threatened Civilzation as We Know It – H.W. Brands
  • TheDevilin theWhiteCity: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America -Erik Larson
  • The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield: A Tragedy of the Gilded Age
  • Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President –

Candice Millard

Imperialism

  • Sea of Glory: America’s Voyagd of Discovery, the US Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 – Nathaniel Philbrick
  • Unfamiliar Fishes –Sarah Vowell
  • The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century – Scott Miller

TheWest&NativeAmericans

  • BuryMy Heart atWoundedKnee– DeeBrown
  • TheLastStand:Custer,SittingBull,and theBattleof LittleBigHorn – Nathaniel Philbrick
  • Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis – Timothy Egan
  • Empire of the Summer Moon: Quannah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History – S.C. Gwynne

ProgressiveEra

  • The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America – Timothy Egan
  • Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt’s Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-loving New York Richard Zacks
  • The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and the Golden Age of Journalism – Doris Kearns Goodwin

Women’sRights

  • Personal Politics:TheRootsof Women’sLiberation in theCivil RightsMovement& theNew

Left– Sara Evans

  • Centuryof Struggle:TheWoman’s RightsMovementin theUnitedStates– Eleanor Flexner
  • TheFeminineMystique–BettyFriedan
  • Worlds of Women: The Making of an International Women’s Movement – Leila J. Rupp
  • TheBodyProject:An IntimateHistoryof American Girls-Joan Jacobs Brumberg

World WarI

  • TheFirstWorld War – John Keegan
  • Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania – Erik Larson

InterwarPeriod

  • Arc of Justice:A Saga of Race,Civil Rights,and Murder in theJazz Age– KevinBoyle
  • Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City – Nelson Johnson
  • Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition – Daniel Okrent
  • NewWorld Coming: The1920sand theMaking of Modern America – Nathan Miller
  • The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration – Isabel Wilkerson
  • The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York – Deborah Blum
  • One Summer: 1927 – Bill Bryson

TheGreatDepression

  • TheWorst Hard Time:TheUntold Storyof ThoseWho SurvivedtheGreatAmerican Dust Bowl – Timothy Egan
  • Freedomfrom Fear:TheAmerican PeopleintheDepressionand War, 1929-1945- David Kennedy
  • The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Olympics – Daniel James Brown
  • The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope – Jonathan Alter

World WarII Era

  • War WithoutMercy:Raceand Powerin thePacificWar – John Dower
  • In theGarden of Beasts:Love,Terror, and an American Familyin Hitler’sBerlin – Erik Larson
  • Goodbye,Darkness:A Memoir of thePacificWar – William Manchester
  • Unbroken: World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption – Laura Hillenbrand
  • Lost in Shangri-la: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II – Mitchell Zuckoff
  • Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship – Jon Meacham
  • No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt – The Home Front in World War II – Doris Kearns Goodwin

Civil Rights & Social Movements

  • Arc of Justice:A Saga of Race,Civil Rights,and Murder in theJazz Age– KevinBoyle
  • Coming of Agein Mississippi – Anne Moody
  • FamilyProperties:Race,RealEstate,and theExploitation of BlackUrban America – Beryl Satter
  • Autobiography of Malcolm X– Malcolm X
  • Strength to Love – Martin Luther King
  • Black Power: The Politics of Liberation – Kwame Ture & Charles Hamilton
  • [Science] The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
  • Stories of Scottsboro – James Goodman
  • Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution – David Carter

TheCold War

  • SeeingisBelieving:How Hollywood TaughtUstoStop Worrying and LovetheFifties– Peter Biskind
  • TheCold War – John LewisGaddis
  • Bomb Power:TheModern Presidencyand theNational SecurityState– Gary Wills
  • Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour – David Bianculli
  • Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety – Eric Schlosser

The Sixties

  • A Rumor of War – PhilipCaputo
  • Dispatches–Michael Herr
  • If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home – Tim O’Brien
  • Armies of the Night – Norman Mailer
  • Slouching Towards Bethlehem – Joan Didion
  • Nixonland: America’s Second Civil War and the Divisive Legacy of Richard Nixon, 1965-1972 – Rick Perlstein

Watergate

  • All thePresident’sMen – Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein
  • Timeof Illusion:An Historical and ReflectiveAccountof theNixon Era – Jonathan Schell

TheRoad toSeptember11thand thePost-September11thWorld

  • 102Minutes:theUnforgettableStoryof theFighttoSurviveInsideTheTwinTowers– Jim

Dwyer

  • TheForeverWar – DexterFilkins
  • TheGood Soldiers – David Finkel
  • Thank You for Your Service – David Finkel
  • War – SebastianJunger
  • Jarhead – Anthony Swofford
  • TheLooming Tower:Al-Qaedaand theRoad to9/11– LawrenceWright
  • The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America – George Packer
  • The Post American World: Release 2.0 – FareedZakaria
  • It’s Even Worse than it Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the Politics of Extremism – Thomas E. Mann

American Culture/ AmericanIdeas

  • Seabiscuit: An American Legend – Laura Hillenbrand
  • Bob Dylan in America – Sean Wilentz
  • AmusingtheMillion: ConeyIsland attheTurn of theCentury– John Kasson
  • TheEducationof Henry Adams – Henry Adams
  • TheMetaphysicalClub: TheStoryof Ideasin America– LouisMenand

Biography

  • Traitor toHis Class:ThePrivilegedLifeandRadical Presidencyof Franklin Delano Roosevelt– H.W. Brands
  • TheRiseof Theodore Roosevelt– Edmund Morris
  • Theodore Rex – Edmund Morris
  • Colonel Roosevelt– Edmund Morris
  • Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times – H.W. Brands
  • The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr- H.W. Brands
  • The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses S. Grant in War and Peace – H.W. Brands
  • Eisenhower in War and Peace – Jean Edward Smith
  • The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power – Robert Caro
  • Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power- Jon Meacham
  • Washington: A Life – Ron Chernow
  • Reagan: The Life – H.W. Brands
  • Truman – David McCullough
  • Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty – John M. Barry
  • An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 – Robert Dallek
  • Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America – Douglas Brinkley
  • First Family: Abigail and John Adams – Joseph Ellis
  • John Adams – David McCullough
  • Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Walker Bush – Jon Meacham
  • Hamilton – Ron Chernow
  • The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789 – Joseph Ellis

GeneralHistory

  • American Dreams:TheUnitedStatesSince1945– H.W. Brands
  • The Story of American Freedom – Eric Foner
  • A PocketHistoryof theUnitedStates– Allan Nevins,Henry SteeleCommager
  • A People’sHistoryof theUnitedStates– HowardZinn
  • Thinking the Twentieth Century - Tony Judt
  • The Purpose of the Past: Reflections on the Uses of History – Gordon S. Wood
  • Assassination Vacation – Sarah Vowell
  • Out of Our Past: The Forces the Shaped Modern America – Carl Degler

Sociology/Events/Trends

  • The Johnstown Flood – David McCollough
  • Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America – Eric Jay Dolin
  • In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (the true story of Moby Dick) – Nathaniel Philbrick
  • The Railway Journey: The Industrialization and Perception of Time and Space
  • A Problem from Hell: America in the Age of Genocide – Samantha Power
  • The Victorian Internet – Tom Standage
  • American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation – Jon Meacham
  • Travels with Charley in Search of America – John Steinbeck

Fiction

  • The Crucible- Arthur Miller
  • Thin Red Line – James Jones
  • Looking Backward– Edward Bellamy
  • TheNakedand theDead– Norman Mailer
  • The Yellow Birds – Kevin Powers
  • Babbitt– Sinclair Lewis
  • The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemmingway
  • TheJungle– Upton Sinclair
  • UncleTom’sCabin – Harriet BeecherStowe
  • HuckleberryFinn – Mark Twain
  • The Long March – William Styron
  • Confessions of Nat Turner – William Styron
  • Johnny Got His Gun – Dalton Trumbo
  • Mother Night – Kurt Vonnegut
  • Cannery Road – John Steinbeck
  • East of Eden – John Steinbeck
  • Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck