Lee-Scott Academy
Mr. Jernigan (mjernigan@lee-scott.org)
AP European History
Summer Reading List for Incoming Students
(To be completed by beginning of 2013-14 School Year)
REQUIRED READING
1) Barbara W. Tuchman—A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century,
Ballantine Books, 1978 or 1987 editions.
In this sweeping historical narrative, Tuchman writes of the cataclysmic 14th
century, when the energies of medieval Europe were devoted to fighting
internecine wars and warding off the plague. Some medieval thinkers viewed
these disasters as divine punishment for mortal wrongs; others, more
practically, viewed them as opportunities to accumulate wealth and power.
One of the latter, whose life informs much of Tuchman's book, was the French
nobleman Enguerrand de Coucy, who enjoyed the opulence and elegance of the
courtly tradition while ruthlessly exploiting the peasants under his control.
Tuchman looks into such events as the Hundred Years War, the collapse of the
medieval church, and the rise of various heresies, pogroms, and other events
that caused medieval Europeans to wonder what they had done to deserve
such horrors.
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2) Princeton Review: Cracking the AP European History Exam (2013
Edition)
If you need to know it, it’s in this book. Cracking the AP European History,
2013 Edition includes:
• 2 full-length practice tests with detailed explanations.
• Comprehensive review of all test topics, including the Renaissance, the
Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment, the French Revolution, postwar
Europe, and more.
• Timelines, keywords, and review questions in every chapter.
• Helpful strategies for writing high-scoring DBQ and free-response essays.
• Advice on how to use Process of Elimination to maximize your multiplechoice section score.
• Updated strategies which reflect the AP test scoring changes.
FURTHER READING
(Reading some or all of these books will better prepare you for AP Euro material)
1) J. H. Plumb—The Italian Renaissance, (revised edition) Mariner
Books, 2001.
Spanning an age that witnessed great achievements in the arts and sciences,
this definitive overview of the Italian Renaissance will both captivate ordinary
readers and challenge specialists. Dr. Plumb’s impressive and provocative
narrative is accompanied by contributions from leading historians, including
Morris Bishop, J. Bronowski, Maria Bellonci, and many more, who have
further illuminated the lives of some of the era’s most unforgettable
personalities, from Petrarch to Pope Pius II, Michelangelo to Isabella d'Este,
Machiavelli to Leonardo. A highly readable and engaging volume and a perfect
introduction to the movement that shaped the Western world.
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2) Roland H. Bainton—Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, Forgotten
Books, 2012.
Bainton provides very lucid and vivid historical settings, events, people, and
such surrounding the life of Luther. Bainton really draws his reader into the
life of Luther by carefully unfolding historical events which led up to the
reformation and events that helped to shape Luther's thinking during and
following the Reformation. This book is written in a chronological format from
Luther's birth to his death, and every major event which occurred between.
This text is certainly a must for anyone who wants a better understanding of
Martin Luther as well as a crucial text for anyone wanting a better
understanding of the Reformation.
3) Vincent Cronin—Napoleon, Harper-Collins, 1995.
Cronin presents Napoleon as the man he was, not the myth, not the legend, not
the "Anti-Christ." Napoleon's fascinating life from birth to death reads like a
novel. It is hard to put down.
Unlike other authors, Cronin does not appear to take sides. He presents
Napoleon's accomplishments as well as his faults.
4) Priscilla S. Robertson—Revolutions of 1848, Princeton University
Press, 1968.
The story of 1848, as is told in this book, is one of the people recognizing the
need for change, but in many cases not being influential enough either in terms
of physical power or in terms of political power to affect the change for a long
period of time. In many respects, the story can be viewed as describing the
necessity for the citizens to be able to protect themselves from an oppressive
government, though in some cases, it can be citizens needing to protect
themselves from each other. This book does not focus on the details of the
constitutions, individual leaders, or battles, but rather provides a rich account
of how people when inspired by a dream or a vision, even one that is
unsustainable, can rise up and let the world know that change must occur.
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5) Barbara W. Tuchman—The Guns of August, Presidio Press, 2004.
Historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Tuchman has brought to
life again the people and events that led up to World War I. With attention to
fascinating detail, and an intense knowledge of her subject and its characters,
Ms. Tuchman reveals, for the first time, just how the war started, why, and
why it could have been stopped but wasn't.
6) William L. Shirer—The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Simon and
Schuster, (50th Anniversary Edition) 2011.
William L. Shirer's work is a monumental study of the 20th Century's most
frightening moments. Now, many years after the end of World War II, it may
seem incredible that our most valued institutions, and way of life, were
threatened by the menace that Hitler and the Third Reich represented. Shirer's
description of events and the cast of characters who played such pivotal roles
in defining the course Europe was to take is unforgettable. Benefiting from his
many years as a reporter, and thus a personal observer of the rise of Nazi
Germany, and availing himself of some of the 485 tons of documents from the
German Foreign Office, captured by the First Army, as well as countless other
diaries, phone transcriptions, and other written records, meticulously kept at
every level by the Germans, Shirer has put together a brutally objective
account of how Hitler wrested political control of Germany, and planned and
executed his six year quest to dominate the world, only at the end, to see
Germany go down in flames.
7) William F. Buckley Jr.—The Fall of the Berlin Wall, Wiley, (20th
Anniversary Edition) 2009.
The Fall of the Berlin Wall explains why the wall was built, reveals its
devastating impact on the lives of people on both sides, and provides a riveting
account of the events that led to the wall’s destruction and the end of the Cold
War. Buckley examines the political, military, and human realities of occupied
Germany in the early years of the Cold War. He recounts the Soviets’ repeated
violations of the Four-Power Agreements that governed the occupation as they
folded East Germany into their growing empire, and he documents the failure
of NATO–and successive American presidents–to stand firm against Soviet
bullying. Buckley also creates detailed and perceptive portraits of such major
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players as East Germany’s dour and disapproving secretary general Walter
Ulbricht; Konrad Adenauer, chancellor of West Germany; Berlin mayor Willy
Brandt; and American general Lucius Clay, who faced down the Soviets at
Checkpoint Charlie. His analysis of behind-the-scenes squabbling on both sides
informs and entertains as it connects developments in the years-long conflict
over Berlin with the Cuban Missile Crisis and other major Cold War events.
8) Carol Strickland—The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art
History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern, Andrews McMeel Publishing,
2007.
More than a crash course, a term used for its catchiness, this book is a
synopsis of art history and provides a concise and brief explanation of art
history, movements, schools, and individual artists and artwork.