2015 – 2016 A.P. WORLD HISTORY SUMMER ASSIGNMENT
All files this year for AP World will be located on my website https://sites.google.com/a/cambridgehs.org/schulerwhap/ You will
find the summer reading files under the “Calendar and Forms” folder under AP World History. In that folder you will also find
information about emailing your instructor as well as signing up for text alerts and turnitin.com account information. Any questions
you have about anything should be directed to Mr. Schuler at schulerwhap@gmail.com
I am also requesting that every student enrolled, and parents of students enrolled in AP World History email me at
schulerwhap@gmail.com so I can begin the process of creating my email distribution list. You only need to enter “AP World
Student –Name” or “AP World Parent – Name” in the subject field. I would also like you to register for remind101 by texting
“@c5f0f5” to 81010. You may also sign up for email alerts instead of, or in addition to text alerts by emailing
c5f0f5@mail.remind.com. Please do this before you leave for summer as this will be a primary way of contacting you.
Registered students are required to read selected chapters of two books: Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond and A History of
the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage.1 Additional chapters will be assigned from both books during the school year as we
progress through the course. In reading the assigned chapters of the required reading, students should take hand-written notes and
are advised to consider the following questions:
Guns, Germs and Steel
“Prologue” (pages 13-15)
What is Yali’s question? Restate the question in your own words.
“Farmer Power” (Chapter 4)
How did the availability of domestic plants and animals explain why empire, literacy, and steel weapons developed earliest in
Eurasia?
“To Farm or Not to Farm” (Chapter 6)
What factors contributed to hunter-gatherers becoming farmers?
“Spacious Skies and Tilted Axes” (Chapter 10)
How did axis orientations of continents affect the success or non-success of human beings in various areas of the world?
“Lethal Gift of Livestock” (Chapter 11)
How does the role of germs figure in answering Yali's question?
“From Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy” (Chapter 14)
How do the institutions of society change over time and how are these changes related to the "agents of conquest", guns,
germs, and steel?
A History of the World in Six Glasses
“Beer in Mesopotamia and Egypt”
1. How is the discovery of beer linked to the growth of the first “civilizations”?
2. What is the relationship between beer and writing, commerce, and health?
“Wine in Greece and Rome”
1. How did the use of wine differ from that of beer in ancient Greece and Rome?
2. How and why did wine develop into a form of a status symbol in Greece?
3. What is the relationship between wine and empire, medicine, and religion?
Students will complete an assessment consisting of short essay questions during the first week of school. Students will be allowed
to use their handwritten notes during the test. Typed notes will not be allowed. The above questions will not be submitted but
rather should be used to guide the student as they navigate through the reading. The assessment will call on themes outlined by
these questions.
During the first month of the school year, the students are required to complete an AP World History Map Project. If you are
interested in starting the map project over the summer it will be posted to my website. Email if you have questions. The activity
is not difficult but is time-consuming.
If you have any questions, please e-mail Mark Schuler (schulerwhap@gmail.com)
1
Both books can be purchased used or new from most on-line book dealers including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.