A.P. United States History Summer Assignment
 All Assignments Are Due on the first day of school

All assignments should be typed, with one-inch margins all around and in Times
New Roman Font (12 point), one and a half-spaced.
 Each section should be clearly labeled, with the question preceding your answer.
 Your name and page # should be on each page.
To enable us to hit the ground running in August, you will have a 3-part summer assignment.
Part 1: What is historiography?
1. Read Davis and Woodman, Conflict and Consensus in Early American History,
“Introduction: History and Historians” first, before reading any of the other assignments. This
selection describes the work that historians do and explains what historiography is. After
reading this chapter, create a well-developed response to each of the following questions:
 Why is the emphasis on “facts” insufficient for an understanding of history?
 What factors account for the differing interpretations of particular historical instances?
 What do the authors mean when they state that “coming to grips with conflicting
interpretations of the past is more than an interesting classroom game…?”
 In what fundamental ways do conflict (revisionist) and consensus (traditional) oriented
historians differ?
 What is meant by historian John Higham’s criticism of consensus historians
“homogenization” of U.S. History?
You can find “Introduction: History and Historians” online at the GHS Social Studies web page
under AP Courses: Summer Work.
http://www.greenwichschools.org/uploaded/high_school/academics/social_studies/AP_Assignm
ents/US/History_and_Historians.PDF
Part 2: How do I effectively read and analyze considerable amounts of
information?
1. Read Chapters 1-4 of The American Experiment (TAE) and Chapter 2 of Howard Zinn’s A
People’s History of the United States. You will be provided with a copy of The American
Experiment; however you must purchase your own copy of Zinn. Please do not hesitate to
contact one of us if this poses any sort of financial difficulty. You can sign out a copy of The
American Experiment from the Folsom Learning Center. You are STRONGLY
ENCOURAGED to take notes as you read.
Part 3: How do I identify and evaluate an author’s argument?
Select one of the books from the list on page three and answer the following questions in
NO MORE THAN 2 pages, 12 point, Times New Roman font with 1.5 spacing.
1. What is the author’s thesis?
2. Provide THREE supporting arguments that the author uses to sustain their thesis (why
does the author have this view)?
3. For each of the supporting arguments, provide three facts or details that the author uses
to sustain their argument.
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Ex. Greenwich High School is a great school. (Thesis)
GHS has excellent teachers (Supporting Argument)
More than 85% of GHS teachers have their master’s degree or higher (how does this
piece of information sustain the supporting argument—i.e., why is it so important
that so many teachers have their master’s degree? (Detail to Sustain Argument)
DUE The first day of school IN CLASS
NO EXCEPTIONS!!!
1. Hardcopy: Standard, white 8 ½ x11 bond paper, stapled in the upper left-hand corner.
Cover page with name, title , date and teacher’s name
2. Electronic: Compile all assignments into one Word document (but title each separate
assignment so it doesn’t all meld together) and follow the instructions provided to submit
your completed work to www.turnitin.com. This serves the useful purpose of ensuring that
you did all of your OWN work. If you should encounter technical difficulties, you must
email your teacher. We would strongly suggest that if you haven’t already used the program,
that you create a user name and access the class page before the end of school and come to
see one of us if you should have any difficulties.
Turnitin Class ID—Boyea: 3319481
password: boyea
Turnitin Class ID—Epstein: 4066204
password: epstein
You can submit your assignment to turnitin on the first day of school once you know whose
section you are in.
We are very much looking forward to a great year with each and every one of you! Please do not
hesitate to email us over the summer if you should have any questions about the summer
assignments. Good luck!
To avoid duplicate emails and ensure speed of correspondence since we won’t know class
sections until the first day of school….
If your last name is A-L—please email Ms. Boyea with your questions.
Karen_Boyea@greenwich.k12.ct.us
If your last name is M-Z—please email Mr. Epstein with your questions.
Mark_Epstein@greenwich.k12.ct.us
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AP U.S. HISTORY SUMMER READING BOOK LIST
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Jack Beatty- Age of Betrayal: The Triumph of Money in America, 1865-1900
Walter Nugent- Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansion
Kevin Phillips- 1775: A Good Year for Revolution
Marc Egnal- The Economic Origins of the Civil War
David R. Roediger- The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class
Eric Foner- A Short History of Reconstruction
David Hackett Fisher- Washington's Crossing
Leon F. Litwack- Trouble in Mind: Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow
Gail Bederman- Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the
United States, 1880-1917
10. Walter A. McDougall- Throes of Democracy: The American Civil War Era, 1829-1877
11. Ronald Takaki- A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America
12. Ronald G. Waters:- American Reformers: 1815-1860
13. Niall Ferguson- Colossus: The Price of America's Empire
14. Benson Bobrick- Angel in the Whirlwind: The Triumph of the American Revolution
15. John W. Dower- Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq
16. James Oakes- Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the U.S., 1861-1865
17. Alasdair Roberts- America's First Great depression: Economic Crisis and the Political
Disorder after the Panic of 1837
18. Kenneth S. Davis- FDR: The New Deal years, 1933-1937
19. Martin Walker- The Cold War: A History
20. James Chace- 1912: Wilson, Taft and Debs-The Election that Changed the Country
21. Sean Wilentz- The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008
22. Neil Sheehan- A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam
23. David A. Nichols- A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution
24. William Leach- Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a new American Culture
25. Lisabeth Cohen- A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America
26. Joseph Ellis-Founding Brothers
27. Tony Horowitz--Confederates in the Attic
28. Tony Horowitz-Midnight Rising
29. Stephen Oates --To Purge this Land with Blood
30. Alexis de Tocqueville--Democracy in America
31. Edward Ayers-- In the Presence of Mine Enemies
32. James Swanson--Manhunt
33. James Swanson-Bloody Crimes
34. Upton Sinclair-The Jungle
35. Dee Brown-Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
36. Erik Larson-Devil in the White City
37. Erik Larson-In the Garden of the Beast
38. Les Standiford-Meet you in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick and the Bitter Partnership that
changed America
39. W.E.B. Du Bois-The Souls of Black Folk
40. Laura Hillenbrand-Unbroken
41. Tyler Anbinder-The Five Points—The New York City Neighborhood That….
42. Joseph Ellis-American Creation
43. Malcolm X and Alex Haley-Autobiography of Malcolm X
44. Ben Macintyre—Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies
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