AP US History Summer Assignment
Your summer assignment is to read 1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina by Chris Rose. A finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in
commentary, this collection of columns from the Times-Picayune provides a riveting first-hand description of his and
others’ personal struggles in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
“After evacuating his family first to Mississippi and then to his native Maryland, Rose returned almost immediately to
chronicle his adopted hometown's journey to "hell and back." Rose deftly sketches portraits of the living, from the cat lady
who survives the storm only to die from injuries sustained during a post-hurricane mugging, to the California National Guard
troops who gratefully chow down on steaks Rose managed to turn up in an unscathed French Quarter freezer. He's equally
adept at evoking the spirit of the dead and missing, summed up by the title, quoting the entirety of an epitaph spray-painted
on one home. Although the usual suspects (FEMA and Mayor Ray Nagin, among others) receive their fair share of barbs,
Rose's rancor toward the powers that be is surprisingly muted. In contrast, he chronicles his own descent into mental illness
(and subsequent recovery) with unsparing detail; though his maniacal dedication to witnessing the innumerable tragedies
wrought by "The Thing" took him down a dark, dangerous path ("three friends of mine have, in fact, killed themselves in the
past year"), it also produced one of the finest first-person accounts yet in the growing Katrina canon.”
- Publisher’s Weekly
Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, 1 Dead in Attic is considered one of the most important accounts of the devastating
storm. Your task is to read this primary source account critically; then using other resources, determine its value to
historians. History is written by examining information from multiple sources that express many points of view. Over the
summer, you will read the book and keep a dialectical journal. When you return to school, you will use 1 Dead in Attic as
a launch point to learn the historical thinking skills and themes of AP US History.
August 18: Dialectical Journal Due. Follow all directions. NOTE THIS IS DUE ON THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS.
You will turn this in and it will be returned the next day. Bring it printed out. NO EXCUSES! I will not print it for you.
August 19 or 20 (whichever day we have class): “Applying Historical Thinking Skills” assignment due.
August 18-21: In-class activities and homework using 1 Dead in Attic
1. Please correctly and completely fill out all the boxes on the Dialectical Journal and the “Applying Historical
Thinking Skills” assignment.
2. You may hand write or type the responses. Copies of the Dialectical Journal and the “Applying Historical
Thinking Skills” are posted on fbcaapush.weebly.com.
3. Before you begin reading, look over the “Applying Historical Thinking Skills” and Dialectical Journal
assignment to see what type of information you will need to look for while reading.
4. As you are reading, complete the dialectical journal and identify and fill in the information for the boxes on the
“Applying Historical Thinking Skills” assignment that ask you about the source/perspective, context, and
audience/purpose of the memoir.
5. After you have finished reading, be sure that you have completed each part of the assignment.
6. Make certain that wherever you are asked to include text quotations and page numbers, you do so.
NO half-efforts or excuses: Don’t throw this together at the last minute. Don’t copy information from others—from
either online or from other students in the class (plagiarism and cheating, and will earn you a zero on the assignment).
If you have not read the book, you will be unprepared for the first week of school and your grade will suffer. Points will
be deducted for late work.
IF you are a student who copies assignments from others, skips doing homework (including reading), doesn’t study for
tests and sees class as a time to text, talk, sleep and otherwise be inattentive, please drop this class. If you want to work
hard, grow as a student and find success, you are in the right place.
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men… Colossians 3:23 (ESV).
Resources for Summer Assignment
Rose, Chris. 1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina. Simon & Schuster: New York, 2007.
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This is available for $12.71 including shipping on Amazon.com. PLEASE contact me if you have any
problems getting this book. ISBN-13: 978-1416552987 ISBN-10: 1416552987
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Be sure to get this one and not the 2006 book.
Other books about Hurricane Katrina:
Brinkley, Douglas. The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Harper
Perennial: New York, 2007.
Horne, Jed. Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City. Random House: New
York, 2008.
Piazza, Tom. Why New Orleans Matters. Harper Collins: New York, 2005. (reprint in 2008)
Piazza, Tom. City of Refuge. Harper Collins: New York, 2008. (Novel)
Websites / Newspapers / TV Broadcasts:
A wide selection of archived websites, newspapers and TV reports is available including:
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The Times-Picayune Hurricane Katrina Coverage archived website
NOLA.COM & Times Picayune Online Archived Website
Hurricane Katrina Digital Memory Bank
National Geographic Katrina Coverage
NPR Coverage of Hurricane Katrina 2005 - 2010
CNN Katrina Coverage Archived Website
Katrina on the Web from The Historic New Orleans Collection
“Lessons Learned” Report from President George W. Bush’s administration
Hurricane Katrina: Then and Now from the Times Picayune
Movies & Television:
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in 4 Acts – Spike Lee, HBO, 2006* (documentary)
Trouble the Water – Zeitgeist Films, 2008* (documentary)
Treme: Season 1 – HBO, 2010* (TV series)
*These are available on Amazon Prime streaming and at possibly at your local public library. If not, they can be acquired
through interlibrary loan. Warning: They contain mature content. Please have parental permission before watching.
1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina Dialectical Journal
As you read 1 Dead in Attic, keep a dialectical journal of key entries and text passages that are of critical importance to
understanding Rose’s interpretation of Hurricane Katrina. For the text, write down the quotation, page number and
passage date/name. For the response, note the response is a question (?), a comment on the text (>), a personal connection
(+) or a connection to other texts, stories, documents, ideas, facts etc. (=). You should make at least 20 dialectical journal
entries, each from a different one of Rose’s columns. The book is divided into 10 sections. You should have at least one
entry from each of these sections (but 20 total). This can be typed or handwritten on notebook paper.
Dialectical Journal: Textual Evidence
Text
Response
1) “First of all, we thank you. For your money, your
water, your food, your prayers, your boots and
buses, and the men and women of your National
Guards, fire departments, hospitals, and everyone
else who has come to our rescue.
“We’re a fiercely proud and independent people,
and we don’t cotton much to outside interference,
but we’re not ashamed to accept it when we need
it. And right now we need it…. (p1)
“We are what made this place a national treasure,
We’re good people. And don’t be afraid to ask
how to pronounce our names. It happens all the
time. (p2)
“When you meet us now and you look into our
eyes, you will see the saddest story ever told. Our
hearts are broken into a thousand pieces. But
don’t pity us. We’re going to make it. We’re
resilient. After all we’ve been rooting for the
Saints for thirty-five years. That’s got to count for
something.” (p3)
? How many people came and where did they come
from? Who exactly came to help during Katrina and
why?
? How much did the rescue cost? Why are Bush and
Kathleen Blanco blamed for the problems?
+ When I helped with Katrina recovery driving every day
from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, I felt more accepted
and welcome by people in New Orleans than before
>This reveals how central the people are to New Orleans
– it is more than just buildings and food, the unique
population that has been spread across the country IS New
Orleans just as much as the land is
=The pictures from Hurricane Katrina are shocking
images of loss
+ I will never forget walking through mold covered
houses with people matter-of-factly describing their losses
= In 2009 the Saints actually won the Super Bowl
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
“Who We Are” 9/6/05
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
15)
16)
17)
18)
19)
20)
Dialectical Journal: Column Summaries & Responses
Now that you have completed One Dead in Attic: After Katrina, identify three columns that you would like to use as an
anchor for further exploration of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. For the entry, write a brief summary of the column
and for the response, write what stood out to you about this column and what you want to know about the broader
phenomenon of Hurricane Katrina after reading it.
Entry
Response
“Facing the Unknown” (9/1/05)
Rose describes his journey from New Orleans to
Picayune, MS to Vicksburg, MS to his wife’s aunt’s house
in Baton Rouge. They have few possessions because they
had only packed for a trip to the beach. He wonders what
has happened to all of the people in New Orleans and how
life will go on. He appears to be living day to day.
1)
2)
3)
Rose’s stream of consciousness indicates how confusing
and chaotic the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was for the
evacuees.
I want to read several other accounts of evacuation to
compare with Rose’s. Was everyone this lost or were
some people better prepared?
Name____________________________________
Deconstructing the Memoir as Historical Truth
Part I: The Perspective / Point of View
Understanding who the speaker is and their relationship to the
phenomena being explored is critical. Describe who the author
is (occupation, ethnicity, age, etc.) and what his role is in the
historical event/trend/time being described. Provide AT LEAST
three attributes that break down the author.
In describing perspective, one must identify relevant biases the
author carries that may skew his interpretation. Identify AT
LEAST 3 biases and explain why such may be relevant
(example: due to the age of the author, to the gender, to the
religion etc.)
Select three sample passages/quotes from the text that help provide insight into the perspective. Be sure to list the page number after each passage.
1)
2)
3)
Part II: Historical Context
In breaking down the memoir as a means of gaining historical
insight, it is necessary to identify the historical phenomena
(event, trend, experience, time/geography of focus) that a
historian would use the memoir as a means of gaining insight
into. Describe the phenomena that you believe the memoir to
represent below (what things does the book reveal specifically):
Briefly research the time period and event in the memoir. In
doing so, write out what you believe are the 5 key/essential facts
one must possess about that time period/event that would help
him/her better understand the memoir you have read.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Select three sample passages/quotes from the text that reveal critical insight to a historian wishing to better understand this
phenomena. Be sure to list the page number after each passage.
1)
2)
3)
Part III: Audience and Purpose
While not overt in many cases, an historical source has an
audience or a particular group that a document is aimed at
reaching. The audience is in many cases, closely related to the
purpose of the columns & memoir. Describe who or what you
believe the audience to be. Justify your response.
An historical source serves a purpose beyond simple
entertainment value. For instance, it may serve to convince
someone of a fact or to persuade one to action. Describe what
you believe the purpose of the columns / memoir to be. Justify
your response.
Select two sample passages/quotes from the text that reveal a
possible audience the author is speaking to in the memoir. Be
sure to list the page number after each passage.
Select two sample passages/quotes from the text that reveal a
possible intended purpose in writing of the memoir. Be sure to
list the page number after each passage.
1)
1)
2)
2)