AP US History
Summer Assignment 2015-2016
Mr. Heffernan
Northern Highlands Regional High School
Welcome to AP US History! The course is a college-level course that will require extensive knowledge and
understanding of US History. It is imperative to have a strong foundation as a class for our return in September.
ASSIGNMENT
Please read Tony Horwitz’s A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World
We will discuss this book during the first week of school, please familiarize yourself with the prominent arguments
and events in this book.
Synopsis of A Voyage Long and Strange
“What happened in North America between Columbus's sail in 1492 and the Pilgrims' arrival in 1620? On a visit to Plymouth Rock, Tony
Horwitz realizes he doesn't have a clue, nor do most Americans. So he sets off across the continent to rediscover the wild era when Europeans
first roamed the New World in quest of gold, glory, converts, and eternal youth. Horwitz tells the story of these brave and often crazed explorers
while retracing their steps on his own epic trek--an odyssey that takes him inside an Indian sweat lodge in subarctic Canada, down the
Mississippi in a canoe, on a road trip fueled by buffalo meat, and into sixty pounds of armor as a conquistador reenactor in Florida. A Voyage
Long and Strange is a rich mix of scholarship and modern-day adventure that brings the forgotten first chapter of America's history vividly to
life.”
Purpose
The AP US History course has a large course curriculum load that can often feel overwhelming. Tony
Horwitz’s A Voyage Long and Strange deals with a number of the important themes within the College Board’s
Curriculum including Identity; Peopling; Politics and Power; Environment and Geography; and Ideas, Beliefs,
and Culture through his examination of the early contact period. However, the book is told in the form of a
travel narrative with a sense of humor with an eye for dispelling historical myths that the author admits to
believing, despite having been a history major at Columbia University. This goal of the assignment is to get
students into the mindset of the course by reading a text that challenges established historical belief systems,
which is an essential skill in this course. By focusing on Horwitz’s salient arguments in the text, we will be able
to use the book as a discussion point throughout the school year.
APUSH
Optional Reading List
None of the books below are required reading for the course or for summer reading,
However, the books on this list cover a variety of topics in American History. These books may be useful in
expanding your knowledge and understanding of US history. If you’re interested in American history, reading or
familiarizing yourself with some of these books over the course of the year will assist in your understanding of US
History as a whole. So if you find yourself with nothing to read this summer, check out the list, and perhaps give one
of these a read!
Discovery & Colonial Era
 New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America – Colin
Calloway
 The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop – Edmund Morgan
 Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War – Nathaniel Philbrick
 The Wordy Shipmates – Sarah Vowell
 Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America – Eric Dolin
The Emergence & Rise of the American Republic
 The Federalist Papers
 The Autobiography of Ben Franklin – Ben Franklin
 The Birth of the Republic, 1763-1789 – Edmund Morgan
Antebellum Period
 Manifest Destiny: American Expansion and the Empire of Right – Stephan Anderson
th
 The Kingdom of Matthias: A Story of Sex and Salvation in 19 Century America – Paul
Johnson
 Walden – Henry David Thoreau
 12 Years a Slave – Solomon Northup
 Honor and Slavery: Lies, Duels, Noses, Masks, Dressing as a Woman, Gifts, Strangers, Humanitarianism,
Death, Slave Rebellions, the Proslavery Argument, Baseball, Hunting, and Gambling in the Old South – Kenneth
Greenberg
The Civil War
 Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War – Tony Horwitz
 Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War – Tony Horwitz
 Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era – James McPherson
 Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln – Doris Kearns Goodwin
 1861: The Civil War Awakening – Adam Goodheart
 This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War – Drew Gilpin Faust
Reconstruction
 Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 – Eric Foner
The Gilded Age/American Capitalism
 American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900 - H.W. Brands
 The Money Men: Capitalism, Democracy, and the Hundred Years’ War Over the American Dollar – H.W. Brands
 Greenback Planet: How the Dollar Conquered the World and Threatened Civilzation as We Know It – H.W. Brands
 The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America - Erik Larson
 The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield: A Tragedy of the Gilded Age
 Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President –
Candice Millard
Imperialism
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Sea of Glory: America’s Voyagd of Discovery, the US Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 – Nathaniel Philbrick
Unfamiliar Fishes –Sarah Vowell
The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century – Scott Miller
The West &Native Americans
 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee – Dee Brown
 The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of Little Big Horn – Nathaniel Philbrick
 Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis – Timothy Egan
 Empire of the Summer Moon: Quannah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in
American History – S.C. Gwynne
Progressive Era
 The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America – Timothy Egan
 Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt’s Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-loving New York Richard Zacks
 The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and the Golden Age of Journalism – Doris Kearns Goodwin
Women’s Rights
 Personal Politics: The Roots of Women’s Liberation in the Civil Rights Movement & the New
Left – Sara Evans
 Century of Struggle: The Woman’s Rights Movement in the United States – Eleanor Flexner
 The Feminine Mystique – Betty Friedan
 Worlds of Women: The Making of an International Women’s Movement – Leila J. Rupp
 The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls- Joan Jacobs Brumberg
World War I
 The First World War – John Keegan
 Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania – Erik Larson
Interwar Period
 Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age – Kevin Boyle
 Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City – Nelson Johnson
 Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition – Daniel Okrent
 New World Coming: The 1920s and the Making of Modern America – Nathan Miller
 The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration – Isabel Wilkerson
 The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York – Deborah Blum
 One Summer: 1927 – Bill Bryson
The Great Depression
 The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American
Dust Bowl – Timothy Egan
 Freedom from Fear: The American People in the Depression and War, 1929-1945- David Kennedy
 The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Olympics – Daniel James Brown
 The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope – Jonathan Alter
World War II Era
 War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War – John Dower
 In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin – Erik
Larson
 Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War – William Manchester
 Unbroken: World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption – Laura Hillenbrand
 Lost in Shangri-la: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II –
Mitchell Zuckoff
 Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship – Jon Meacham
 No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt – The Home Front in World War II – Doris Kearns Goodwin
Civil Rights & Social Movements
 Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age – Kevin Boyle
 Coming of Age in Mississippi – Anne Moody
 Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America – Beryl Satter
 Autobiography of Malcolm X – Malcolm X
 Strength to Love – Martin Luther King
 Black Power: The Politics of Liberation – Kwame Ture & Charles Hamilton
 [Science] The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
 Stories of Scottsboro – James Goodman
 Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution – David Carter
The Cold War
 Seeing is Believing: How Hollywood Taught Us to Stop Worrying and Love the Fifties – Peter Biskind
 The Cold War – John Lewis Gaddis
 Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State – Gary Wills
 Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour – David Bianculli
 Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety – Eric Schlosser
The Sixties
 A Rumor of War – Philip Caputo
 Dispatches – Michael Herr
 If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home – Tim O’Brien
 Armies of the Night – Norman Mailer
 Slouching Towards Bethlehem – Joan Didion
 Nixonland: America’s Second Civil War and the Divisive Legacy of Richard Nixon, 1965-1972 – Rick Perlstein
Watergate
 All the President’s Men – Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein
 Time of Illusion: An Historical and Reflective Account of the Nixon Era – Jonathan Schell
The Road to September 11th and the Post-September 11th World
 102 Minutes: the Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside The Twin Towers – Jim
Dwyer
 The Forever War – Dexter Filkins
 The Good Soldiers – David Finkel
 Thank You for Your Service – David Finkel
 War – Sebastian Junger
 Jarhead – Anthony Swofford
 The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 – Lawrence Wright
 The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America – George Packer
 The Post American World: Release 2.0 – Fareed Zakaria
American Culture/ American Ideas
 Seabiscuit: An American Legend – Laura Hillenbrand
 Bob Dylan in America – Sean Wilentz
 Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century – John Kasson
 The Education of Henry Adams – Henry Adams
 The Metaphysical Club: The Story of Ideas in America – Louis Menand
Biography
 Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt – H.W. Brands
 The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt – Edmund Morris
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Theodore Rex – Edmund Morris
Colonel Roosevelt – Edmund Morris
Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times – H.W. Brands
The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr- H.W. Brands
The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses S. Grant in War and Peace – H.W. Brands
Eisenhower in War and Peace – Jean Edward Smith
The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power – Robert Caro
Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power- Jon Meacham
Washington: A Life – Ron Chernow
Reagan – H.W. Brands
Truman – David McCullough
Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty
– John M. Barry
General History
 American Dreams: The United States Since 1945 – H.W. Brands
 The Story of American Freedom – Eric Foner
 A Pocket History of the United States – Allan Nevins, Henry Steele Commager
 A People’s History of the United States – Howard Zinn
 Thinking the Twentieth Century - Tony Judt
 The Purpose of the Past: Reflections on the Uses of History – Gordon S. Wood
 Assassination Vacation – Sarah Vowell
 Out of Our Past: The Forces the Shaped Modern America – Carl Degler
Sociology/Events/Trends
 The Johnstown Flood – David McCollough
 Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America – Eric Jay Dolin
 In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (the true story of Moby Dick) – Nathaniel Philbrick
 The Railway Journey: The Industrialization and Perception of Time and Space
 A Problem from Hell: America in the Age of Genocide – Samantha Power
 The Victorian Internet – Tom Standage
 American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation – Jon Meacham
Fiction
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The Crucible- Arthur Miller
Thin Red Line – James Jones
Looking Backward – Edward Bellamy
The Naked and the Dead – Norman Mailer
The Yellow Birds – Kevin Powers
Babbitt – Sinclair Lewis
The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemmingway
The Jungle – Upton Sinclair
Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe
Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
The Long March – William Styron
Confessions of Nat Turner – William Styron
Johnny Got His Gun – Dalton Trumbo
Mother Night – Kurt Vonnegut
Cannery Road – John Steinbeck
East of Eden – John Steinbeck
Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck