UNITED STATES HISTORY
Advanced Placement
Summer Reaction Paper Assignment
Due Date: September 5, 2014
The readings from the attached list will make up the first of your grades in
APUSH. You are to select one work from either column A (APUSH 1) and one work
from column B (APUSH 2). A five to seven page paper on the work you choose will be
due upon your return to class in September. Each essay is a scholarly reaction paper as
outlined below.
The reaction papers are, as the name implies, your scholarly reaction to the
readings. You should read through the work critically once before you try to write. You
may feel you need to read the work several times. A reaction paper is your reaction as a
student/scholar. IT IS NOT A BOOK REPORT. You might want to use outside sources
(commentary, reviews, etc.). If you do, you must include a works cited and use all the
appropriate citations.
Suggested Outline:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Introduction (which should include a brief discussion of the author’s thesis).
Historical background of the book’s topic area.
Discussion of the main idea of the book.
Relevance of the book (its importance, then and now).
What did you, as the reader, get from reading the book?
Conclusion
Be sure to use lots of relevant quotes to support your points.
No handwritten work will be accepted. In addition, you should have a cover page
with you name, works cited and title of the work. No late work will be accepted. Failure
to submit this paper will result in your removal from APUSH 1.
Should you have any questions, feel free to see me before or after class, or contact
me on the email, wcarr@bectonhs.org.
BOOK REVIEWS
Reading is absolutely essential in order for you to be successful in college and in your
career. It is also necessary for you to be a generally well-informed person. History is made up of
literally millions of fascinating, funny and exciting stories. I believe it is important to your
experience of history for you to do some in-depth reading in United States history. Therefore,
you will be required to do a first semester book review.
You may choose any book from the list I gave you at the beginning of the summer.
However, only one person can do each book, so you will have to pick a book that has not yet been
chosen. Make sure to sign up for the book before you begin to read it.
Your book review will be made up of three parts. The first part will be a one-paragraph
(no more) summary of the content of the book. It will be necessary for you to write in broad
generalizations. Your paragraph should give the reader a good idea of what the book is about and
what the author believes about the subject (his thesis). For instance the book might be about the
causes of the Civil War, and the author’s thesis is that the war was unavoidable. Another
example would be that the book was about Kennedy’s foreign policy, and the author’s thesis is
that it was unsuccessful because Kennedy was so busy trying to appear tough, that he was
unwilling to seek compromise.
The second part of the review will be a critical analysis of the book as a resource for
understanding history. In this section you will discuss things like the author's objectivity,
extensiveness of the citations, usefulness of the bibliography, assumptions made by the author,
and any other factors that determine the quality of the book as a historical resource. In other
words explain if the book is informative, reliable and helpful for someone who desires to begin an
in depth study of the topic.
The third part of the review will be your own subjective comments about the book. One
thing you should include in this section is what you specifically liked or didn't like about it. For
example, don't say, "It was confusing." Say, "The author went into so much detail about the
military background of all the officers in the battle, that the events of the current battle were
unclear." Another thing you might include in this part of the review is what you learned from the
book that was important. You could point out areas in which you disagreed with the author, or
things that you think the author should have added to make the book more complete.
The review should be typed and double-spaced. You must include the author, title and
publishing information at the end of the review. You will be graded on clear, error-free writing
and the quality of your evaluation.
Source: Karen Fairbank, Thomas Jefferson School, St. Louis, MO 63127
TO: Incoming APUSH 1 Students
FROM: Mr. Carr
RE: Meeting May 27, 2014
DATE: May 22, 2014
We will meet briefly in room 230 at 2:55 pm on Tuesday, May 27, 2014. The summer
assignment, including due dates, will be distributed and discussed. There will also be a Q
& A for those who may still have questions on course objectives and course content. We
have just finished a very successful exam cycle and I am very excited to get to work with
you. Should you or your parents have any questions, I may be reached at school via
email at wcarr@bectonhs.org. See you Tuesday!
APUSH
Summer Reading Lists
APUSH 1
APUSH 2
McCullough, John Adams, 1776
Harrington, The Other America
Madison, Hamilton and Jay, The Federalist
Papers
Sinclair, The Jungle
Carson, Silent Spring
Brookheiser, Alexander Hamilton
Montville, Ted Williams: American
Wills, A Necessary Evil
Watson: Sacco and Vanzetti
Fenn, Pox Americana
Nader, Unsafe at Any Speed
Ambrose, Undaunted Courage
Roth, The Plot Against America
Sale, Conquest of Paradise
Berg, Lindbergh
Donald, Lincoln
Heller, Catch-22
Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals
Sorensen, Counselor
Maier, American Scripture
Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Thoreau, Walden, Cape Cod, The Maine
Woods
Goodwin, No Ordinary Time
Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Moore, We Were Soldiers Once
Hawthorne, House of the Seven Gables
Reeves, President Kennedy, President Nixon
Cooper, Last of the Mohicans
Baum, The Wizard of Oz
Twain, An Innocent Abroad, Huckeberry
Finn
Perlstein, Nixonland
Greenhouse, Becoming Justice Blackmun
Washington, Up From Slavery
Dahl, How Democratic is the United States
Constitution?
Woodward & Bernstein, All the Presidents
Men
Vowell, Assassination Vacation
Brands, The First American, Andrew
Jackson
Riis, How the Other Half Lives
Vowell, The Wordy Shipmates
Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Rex
Colonel Roosevelt
Please note: You may select a book from
these lists, or pick a book off the lists with
prior approval.