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FRANKLINTON HIGH SCHOOL
AP US HISTORY SUMMER ASSIGNMENT
Sandra Wiggins
As you prepare for the upcoming school year I would like you to enhance your understanding of events in US History as well as support your writing, reading and thinking skills. Your assignment is to read TWO (2) (more than 1, less than 3) of the listed books and complete a book critique for each as explained below. The critiques must be completed and submitted to me electronically by midnight on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. This will count as a test grade.
BOOK CRITIQUE GUIDELINES AND RUBRIC
There are many differences between an English and History critical book review. IT IS NOT A BOOK REPORT is the biggest difference. You are being asked to assess what the book is trying to convey about a historical period/person/event. Use quotes from the text to support your assessment and be sure to cite the page.
The good news is it does follow a standard essay format. It is also relatively short—no more than 2 pages. There should be an introduction, body and conclusion.
INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 pts
You MUST identify the book and the author!!!
Set the scene. What is the historical and geographical setting?
In what historical time period is it set?
Is there a definite point of view or bias?
What is the genre of the book? (fiction, nonfiction, primary source, secondary
Source, journal, science fiction, humorous etc)
Was it written in the time period it represents?
BODY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 pts
What is the story IN BRIEF! I do NOT want a blow by blow
Wikipedia version of the book. I WILL KNOW
What can be learned from this book as it applies to US History?
What does the book say about US culture?
What parts of the book or quotations from the book made an impression
on you?
Your critique—NOT whether you liked it or not but was the book really significant? Why or why not? What were the book’s strengths or weaknesses?
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 pts
State your recommendations for readership—whether this should be
required reading or not. State this in better terms than “ I like this book.
You should read it.” Restate how convincing the book was or wasn’t in
representing US culture, the uniqueness or importance of their argument and/
or how the author adds to our understanding of a particular era.
FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .10 pts
Standard English grammar must be used.
THIRD person only—no “we, us, our, my, I”
Try not to be vague—use SPECIFIC parts of the book to explain your points and give a complete, detailed, specific picture of the historical context. Give definitive dates, people, places and events.
Times New Roman, 12 font, double space with 1 inch margin
Take notes on these items as you read your book. I promise it will make it easier.
BOOK LIST Books marked with an * are often used in English III.
Exploration Progressive Movement
Guns, Germs and Steel, Jarred Diamond Women and the New Race-Margaret Sanger
How the Other Half Lives—Jacob Riis
Colonization The Souls of Black Folk—WEB DuBois
*The Scarlet Letter, Nathanial Hawthorne
The Hemingses of Monticello-Annette Gordon-Reed Imperialism
Runaway—Bill Donahue The Influence of Sea Power—Alfred Mahan
The Crucible-Arthur Miller
World War I
Revolutionary America For Whom the Bell Tolls-Ernest Hemingway
Rise to Rebellion—Jeff Shaara A Farewell to Arms—Ernest Hemingway
The Traitor’s Wife—Allison Pataki To the Last Man—Jeff Shaara
*Common Sense—Thomas Paine
1776- David McCullough 1920s
The Great Gatsby—F. Scott Fitzgerald
New Nation Babbitt—Sinclair Lewis
*The Federalist Papers—Alexander Hamilton, James Madison
Great Depression
Westward Expansion *The Grapes of Wrath—John Steinbeck
The Last of the Mohicans—James Fenimore Cooper *Of Mice and Men—John Steinbeck
Undaunted Courage—Stephen Ambrose All the King’s Men—Robert Penn Warren
The Significance of the Frontier in American History—Frederick J. Turner World War II
Reform and Enlightenment The Rising Tide—Jeff Shaara
*Civil Disobedience—Henry David Thoreau The Steel Wave—Jeff Shaara
*Walden—Henry David Thoreau Hiroshima—John Hersey
Moby Dick—Herman Melville
1950s
Antebellum South Fast Food Nation—Eric Schlosser
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer—Mark Twain Red Scare or Red Menace—John Haynes
Gone for Soldiers—Jeff Shaara The Right Stuff-Tom Wolfe
Uncle Tom’s Cabin—Harriet Beecher Stowe The Cold War—ed. Robert Cowley
Gone With the Wind—Margaret Mitchell Death of a Salesman—Arthur Miller
Fences—August Wilson
Civil War To Kill A Mockingbird—Harper Lee
The Red Badge of Courage—Stephen Crane
Killer Angels—Michael Shaara Vietnam
Battle Cry of Freedom—James McPherson *The Things They Carried—Tim O’Brien
Born on the Fourth of July—Ron Kovic
Populists \
The Wizard of Oz—Frank Baum Civil Rights
My Antonia—Willa Cather A Raisin in the Sun—Lorraine Hansberry
Giants In the Earth—O.E. Rolvaag I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings—Maya Angelou
Little House on the Prairie—Laura Ingalls Wilder The Autobiography of Malcolm X—Malcolm X
*Black Boy—Richard Wright
Industrialization Black Like Me—John H. Griffin
The Jungle—Upton Sinclair
The Gilded Age—Mark Twain Contemporary America
*Huckleberry Finn-Mark Twain All the President’s Men—Woodward and Bernstein
Twenty Years at Hull House—Jane Addams Silent Spring—Rachel Carson
Christy—Catherine Marshall Unsafe at Any Speed—Ralph Nader
The Feminine Mystique—Betty Friedan
