AP English Language and Composition Project Sources
As part of your coursework for AP Language, you will be required to read two full-length works of non-fiction, watch two documentaries, and read three longform pieces about a topic or topics of your choice. You will write rhetorical analysis, open argument, and synthesis essays that are based off of your reading. You will use these resources to create your One to the World project.
These are suggested readings, examples of non-fiction written about these topics. With my guidance, you will create your own reading and viewing list, write your own prompts for your essays, and design your own One to the World project.
Extreme Sports Documentary
Dogtown and Z-Boys - skateboarding
Touching the Void - ice climbing
Riding Giants - big wave surfing
Where the Trail Ends - mountain biking
Storm over Everest - mountain climbing
K2: Siren of the Himalays - mountain climbing
Meru – mountain climbing
Extreme Sports Longform
“Lost on Everest” - Outside Magazine, mountain climbing
“The Wave-Maker” - Vanity Fair, big wave surfing
“The Deadliest Wave” - SB Nation, big wave surfing
“Skateboarding as Religion” - Buzzfeed, skateboarding
“Using So Little” by Sean Wilsey
Extreme Sports Full-Length Non-Fiction
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
The Wave by by Susan Casey
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
A Life Without Limits: A World Champion’s Journey by Chrissie Wellington
Extreme Sports Short Video
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Food Documentary
The Ethics of Food
Food, Inc.
Super Size Me
King Corn
Fed-Up
Super-Size Me
Forks Over Knives

Food as Profession, Food as Art
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Chef's Table
Pressure Cooker
Kings of Pastry
Somm
Food Longform
"Consider the Lobster" by David Foster Wallace
"How the Sausage is Made" by Tamar Adler
"Life in Chains: On Loving Taco Bell, as a Half-Mexican" by John Devore
Food Full-Length Non-Fiction
Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan
The Omnivore's Dilemma, Food Rules, In Defense of Food, all titles by Michael Pollan
Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress by Debra Ginsberg
Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip - Confessions of a Cynical Waiter by Steve Dublanica
Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter by Phoebe Damrosch
Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant by Scott Haas
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Healthcare Documentary
Being Mortal
Facing Death
The Waiting Room
Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare
Sicko
Healthcare Longform
Articles by Atul Gawande in The New Yorker
"A Life Worth Ending" by Michael Wolff
"Mommy Wars: The Prequel" by Samantha Shapiro
"Faith Healers" by Cienna Madrid
Healthcare Full-Length Non-Fiction
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the
World by Tracy Kidder
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis by Lisa Sanders
How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman
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Business and Economics
Business and Economics Documentary
Inside Job
Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Overdose: The Next Financial Crisis
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
A Tale of Two Cities: The Circuit City Story
Business and Economics Longform
“American Woman” by Vanessa Grigoridas
“Scooper Hero” by Alex Pappademas
“Thirteen Months of Working, Eating and Sleeping at the Googleplex” by Joel Stein
“Up in the Air” by Ben Swofford
“Who Owns the Dead?” by Libby Copeland
“This is How Uber Takes Over a City” by Karen Weise
Business and Economics Full-Length Non-Fiction
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
The Big Short by Michael Lewis
Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis
The Divide : American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap by Matt Taibbi
Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American
History by Matt Taibbi
Various titles by Freakonomics authors, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Various titles by Malcolm Gladwell
Various titles by Jack Welch
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War
War Documentary
Restrepo
Korengal
The Tillman Story
The Hornet's Nest
PBS Frontline: The Rise of ISIS
War Longform
“ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape” by Rukmini Callimachi
“Twilight of the Bomb” by Brian Merchant
“Hiroshima” by David Hersey
“How ISIS Crippled Al-Qaida” by Spencer Ackerman
“Into Afghanistan’s Taliban Valley” by Matt Trevithick and Daniel Seckman
War Full-Length Non-Fiction

The Forever War by Dexter Filkins
Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks
The Gamble: General Petraeus and the Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer
The Good Soldiers by David Finkel
Jarhead by Anthony Swofford
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Animals
Documentaries about Animals
The Elephant in the Living Room
Blackfish
The Cove
Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson
The Whale
The End of the Line
Animals Longform
"When is a Rescuer a Hoarder?" by Carol Mithers
"The Piscivore's Dilemma" by Tim Zimmerman
"Zoo Animals and Their Discontents" by Alex Halberstadt
Full-Length Non-Fiction about Animals
Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish
Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity
Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy, and Poultry Farms to Humans and the Environment
Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S.
Meat Industry
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The Environment
Environment Documentary
Chasing Ice
An Inconvenient Truth
GasLand
If a Tree Falls: The Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Crude Independence
Tapped
Environment Longform

"The Wreck of the Kulluk" by McKenzie Funk
"Dry" by Mark Arax
Killing the Colorado - a series of articles in ProPublica by Abrahm Lustgarten and Naveena
Sadisivam
"Power Steer" by Michael Pollan
Environment Full-Length Non-Fiction
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Korbert
Tom's River: A Story of Science and Salvation
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Succeed or Fail by Jared Diamond
Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - and How It Can Renew America by
Thomas Friedman
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Sports
Sports Documentary
30 for 30 series by ESPN
Hoop Dreams
More Than a Game
The Heart of the Game
Undefeated
Senna
Ballplayer: Pellatero
Schooled: The Price of College Sports
The Short Game
Sports Longform
“The Unretiring Serena Williams” by Kerry Howley
“The End of the Hoop Dream” by Jordan Ritter Conn
“The Gangster in the Huddle” by Paul Solotaroff and Ron Borges
“The Man in the Van” by Eli Saslow
Sports Full-Length Non-Fiction
The Best American Sports Writing series
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional
Sports by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams
Season on the Brink: A Year with Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers by John Feinstein
Friday Night Lights: a Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger
Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
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Crime

Crime Documentary
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
Cropsey
The Jinx
The Central Park Five
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders of Robin Hood Hills
Into the Abyss
The House I Live In
Crime Longform
“The Master of the Murder Castle” by John Bartlow Martin
“96 Minutes” by Pamela Coloff
“Trial by Fire” by David Grann
“Midnight in the Garden of East Texas” by Skip Hollandsworth
Best American Crime Reporting series
Crime Full-Length Non-Fiction
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry
In Broad Daylight by Harry N. Mclean
The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America by
Erik Larson
Columbine by Dave Cullen
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon
Hellhound on His Trail by Hampton Sides
Manhunt: The 12-Day Hunt to Catch Lincoln’s Killer by James Swanson
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Exploration and Adventure
Exploration and Adventure Documentary
The Endurance
180 South: Conquerors of the Useless
Into the Cold: A Journey into the Soul
Grizzly Man
Step Into Liquid
Exploration and Adventure Longform
“A Sea Story” by William Langweische
“The Last American Man” by Elizabeth Gilbert
“In Deep” by Burkhard Bilger
“A Speck in the Sea” by Paul Tough
“19: The True Story of the Yarnell Fire” by Kyle Dickman
“Roughing It” by Dorothy Wickenden

Exploration and High Adventure Full-Length Non-Fiction
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides
The Devil’s Highway: A True Story by Luis Alberto Urrea
The Devil’s Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks by Susan Casey
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger
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Espionage, Hacking, and International Intrigue
Espionage, Hacking, and International Intrigue Documentary
We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks
Citizenfour
The Oath
Hacker Wars
We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists
Spying on the Homefront, a PBS Frontline Documentary
Espionage, Hacking, International Relations Longform
“Inside the Hack of the Century” by Peter Elkind
“The Geeks on the Front Lines” by David Kushner
“The Mystery of the Creepiest Television Hack” by Chris Knittel
“Weaponize the Media: An Anonymous Rapper’s War on Steubenville”
“The Journalist and the Spies” by Dexter Filkins
Espionage, Hacking, International Relations Full-Length Non-Fiction
See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA’s War Against Terrorism by Robert
Baer
Charlie Wilson’s War by George Crile
The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground by Kevin
Paulsen
Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick
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Music
Music Documentaries
It Might Get Loud
Muscle Shoals
Marley
Searching for Sugar Man
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

Scratch
Dave Chappelle’s Block Party
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
American Hardcore
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
Music Longform
“Blowhards” by Chris Sweeney
“Papa” by Sean Flynn
“Genius: The Nickelback Story” by Ben Paynter
“Down and Out in the Top 10” by Nitsuh Abebe
“Delta Dawn” by Chris Kjorness
Music Full-Length Non-Fiction
This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin
Musicophilia by Olive Sacks
Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley by Timothy White
Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain by Charles R. Cross
Life by Keith Richards
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Race
Religion
The Drug War