2015 APUSH Summer Reading Assignment:
ALL 2015-16 APUSH students will be responsible for completing two assignments and purchase a book for next year. ALL ASSIGNMENTS and book ARE DUE THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS.
Read this assignment BEFORE you leave for summer break. Any questions you may ask any of the
APUSH teachers: Boyt (A113), Gudger (A42), Kaiser (A210), King (A37)
□ Part One: Historical Visit
Before you return to school, you will need to visit an American historical site. The site can be within
Atlanta, outside Georgia, or somewhere that you can connect the location to an important American historical event/time-period. Below are some suggestions:
Cyclorama
Stone Mtn.
Atlanta/Georgia Sites
Fox Theatre
Capitol/Museum
Etowah Indian Mounds Lookout Mtn Southeastern RR Museum
Ocmulgee Indian Mounds Little White House Historic Madison GA
Atlanta Historical Society Dahlonega
Kennesaw Mtn. New Echota
Oakland Cemetery
Cumberland Island Andersonville Historic Plaines GA
Historic Savannah Gwinnett County Museum
Chickamauga Confederate Naval Museum
Historical Visit Assignment Requirements: a.
Proof that you actually visited the place (i.e. ticket stub, museum handout, etc.) b.
1 picture of you at the site- with caption (no photoshopping  ) c.
1 page description of the historical background of the site, what you saw that was interesting to you, and what the historical significance of the site is to American history. d.
The 1 page description should be TYPED, single spaces, 1 inch margins (top, side, bottom), New
Times Roman, 12 point
□ Part Two: Buy AMSCO book
ALL 2015-2016 will be required to buy AMSCO’s 2015 United States History: Preparing for the Advanced
Placement Examination by John J. Newman and John M. Schmalbach ( ISBN-10:
0789189046
ISBN-13:
978-0789189042)
□ PART THREE: BOOK ASSIGNMENT:
AP US History is more than learning about historical minutia. In this course, you will be asked to read, analyze, and interpret historical trends and/or events. With this in mind, a.
You need to select ONE of the following books on this list. b.
You will need to purchase the book read it over the summer, and c.
Answer the following questions provided on this sheet. d.
Your TYPED responses are due the first day of school, and this assignment will count as a grade.
Do not stress about the accuracy of your answers; instead, answer the questions to the best of your abilities. We will be working on these historical thinking skills throughout the year. e.
Also, be prepared for a summer reading test the first week of school.
Turn Over >>>>>>>>

BOOK LIST- CHOOSE only ONE
 Brown, Dee, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (Henry Hold and Company: New York, 1970
).-30 copies are available in Ms. Kaiser’s room

Collins, Gail, America’s Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines
(Perennial: New York, 2003).
 Daniels, Roger, Coming to America: A History of Immigration (Harper Perennial: New York, 2002)

Ellis, Joseph J., Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (Vintage Books: New York,
2000).
25 copies are available in Ms. Kaiser’s room

Jacobs, Harriet, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Washington Square Press, 1861).
30 copies are available in Ms. Kaiser’s room

Roberts, Gene & Klibanoff, Hank, The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the
Awakening of a Nation (Vintage Books: New York, 2007)
a. Typed, single-spaced, Times-New Roman, 12 point font, 1 inch margins (top, side, and bottom) b. Minimum of 2 pages and a maximum of 3 pages
Below are the questions to guide your analysis of the book, and the requirements for the typed responses. (Do not number and then write a response-it should flow continuously.)
1. CONTEXT-Provide the historical context of the book you selected (use the introduction to help you).
2. ARGUMENT-What is the thesis or main argument of the book (use the introduction to help you)?
3. INTENDED AUDIENCE-Who seems to be the intended audience for the book (historians, popular culture, main-stream audiences)? Why do you think the author chose this type of audience?
4. STRUCTURE OF ARGUMENT- What is the structure of the book, and how does this structure support the author’s argument? Summarize the major points of each chapter, and explain how these points support the author’s argument. (Basically, a mini-book report  )
5. HISTORICAL EVIDENCE-Historians provide Notes or a Bibliography at the end of their work to show the primary and secondary sources used when researching information for their book. SELECT TWO
SOURCES from the Bibliography/Notes. Research and summarize the ideas about each source you selected, and explain how the source supports the author’s argument (thesis). Make sure to give the title and author of the two sources you selected when writing your summary.
**********If you choose Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, research about two other slave narratives that were published during the Antebellum period, and compare those slave narratives to
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.*********************
6. YOUR ANALYSIS OF THE BOOK-What did you think about the book you chose? Explain and provide specific evidence to support your point of view. Make sure to use parenthetical citations when providing evidence.
7. ANALYSIS OF AUTHOR’ ARGUMENT- How persuasive was the author in supporting his/her argument?
Explain and provide specific evidence to support your point of view. Make sure to use parenthetical citations when providing evidence.
8. FINAL THOUGHTS-What did you learn about American history by reading this book?
Notes about Citations: If you use quotes or paraphrase an idea from the book, you need to cite the quote or paraphrase by putting the page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence.
Example: Gail Collins’s in America’s Women states that “in the decade after the Civil War, Americans began living large” (pg. 238).