Part 3: APWH Summer Reading Assignment:
To enhance your World History knowledge you must select ONE of the listed non-fiction works
to read, summarize, and analyze this summer. You may purchase a copy, borrow from a library,
or even arrange a book share with a peer. While you are reading you must keep the following
APWH Themes and APWH Historical Thinking Skills in mind, and be able to identify them in
the text.
Summer Reading Options:
Craughwell, Thomas J. The Rise and Fall of the Second Largest Empire in History: How
Genghis Khan's Mongols Almost Conquered the World. Beverly, Mass.: Fair Winds
Press, 2010. Print.
Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Viking
Press, 2004. Print.
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York:
Norton, 1997. Print.
Standage, Tom. An Edible History of Humanity. New York: Walker and Company, 2009.
Print.
Standage, Tom. A History of the World in 6 Glasses. New York: Walker and Company,
2005. Print.
Rossi, Melissa. What Every American Should Know About the Rest of the World. New York:
Plume, 2003. Print.
Wilson, Samuel M. The Emperor's Giraffe and Other Stories of Cultures in Contact.
Boulder: Westview Press, 1999. Print.
APWH Themes:
Theme 1: Interaction between Humans and the Environment
o Demography and disease
o Migration
o Patterns of settlement
o Technology
Theme 2: Development and Interaction of Cultures
o Religions
o Belief systems, philosophies, and ideologies
o Science and technology
o The arts and architecture
Theme 3: State-building, Expansion, and Conflict
o Political structures and forms of governance
o Empires
o Nations and nationalism
o Revolts and revolutions
o Regional, trans-regional, and global structures and organizations
Theme 4: Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems
o Agricultural and pastoral production
o Trade and commerce
o Labor systems
o Industrialization
o Capitalism and socialism
Theme 5: Development and Transformation of Social Structures
o Gender roles and relations
o Family and kinship
o Racial and ethnic constructions
o Social and economic classes
APWH Historical Thinking Skills:
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Skill 1:
Skill 2:
Skill 3:
Skill 4:
Crafting Historical Arguments from Historical Evidence
Chronological Reasoning
Comparison and Contextualization
Historical Interpretation and Synthesis
Your final paper will include two parts: Reading Summary and Reading Analysis.
Reading Summary:
After reading one of the options write a three-paragraph summary of the work that reviews the
basic events, ideas and concepts. Make sure this is typed, 12-point font, double-spaced, and
printed with the Reading Analysis section.
Reading Analysis:
Complete answers to the reading analysis prompts. Make sure your work is typed, in 12-point
font, double-spaced and printed with the Reading Summary section.
1. Explain TWO of the APWH Themes the book covered and how the author addressed them.
Provide specifics.
2. Explain TWO of the APWH Historical Thinking Skills employed by the author and how the
author used them. Provide specifics.
3. What are TWO examples of historical evidence or primary source pieces the author relies on?
Provide specifics.
4. What further questions does the work prompt or evoke? What is missing from discussion?
What are you left wondering?