APUSH *Required* reading list
Each student is required to read two books; one book must cover the colonial era, the other must
cover the Civil rights era. For each book write two, two page reports see detail that follows:
Write a TWO page report for each book you have chosen to read (two books total) of the following books.
Your response should be broken down as follows:
 One page summary (typed not larger than 12 font and 1 inch margins)
 One-half page why or how you believe the book relates to history and or its importance in
studying history
 One-half page recommendation to read or not to read with a justification of your opinion.
I should be able to tell from your book report that you have actually read the book and not the
Spark notes version. If I cannot tell from your summary that you have read the actual book then
your grade will suffer severely. **In other words give me specifics from the book**
We believe that it is very important that AP students keep their minds active during the summer months.
The selections are designed provide an in depth study of some of the topics that will be covered during
your AP US History course.
Both book reports will be due the first Friday of the 2015/2016 school year. This will allow you to
ask me any questions that you may have pertaining to this assignment. However both book
reports should be completed on the first day of school so that only revisions will be necessary.
Summer reading list:
Choose one of the two following books about the Colonial Era (Love and Hate in Jamestown or
Follow the River).
Love and Hate in Jamestown
By David A. Price
Approximately 105 British colonists sailed to America, seeking gold and a trade route to the Pacific. Instead,
they found disease, hunger, and hostile natives. Ill prepared for such hardship, the men responded with
incompetence and infighting; only the leadership of Captain John Smith averted doom for the first permanent
English settlement in the New World. The Jamestown colony is one of the great survival stories of American
history, and this book brings it fully to life for the first time. Drawing on extensive original documents, David A.
Price paints intimate portraits of the major figures from the formidable monarch Chief Powhatan, to the
resourceful but unpopular leader John Smith, to the spirited Pocahontas, who twice saved Smith’s life. He also
gives a rare balanced view of relations between the settlers and the natives and debunks popular myths about
the colony. This is a superb work of history, reminding us of the horrors and heroism that marked the dawning
of our nation.
Follow the River
By James Alexander Thom
Mary Ingles was twenty-three, married, and pregnant, when Shawnee Indians invaded her peaceful Virginia
settlement, killed the men and women, then took her captive. For months, she lived with them, unbroken, until
she escaped, and followed a thousand mile trail to freedom--an extraordinary story of a pioneer woman who
risked her life to return to her people.
Choose one of the two following books about the Civil rights Era (Black Like Me or The
Autobiography of Malcom X)
Black Like Me
By John Howard Griffin
In 1959, a white journalist from Dallas was covering stories of race relations in the southern United States.
Griffin had asked many African-Americans what it is like to be black, and he always received a similar response.
It is something that you have to experience for yourself in order to understand. So Griffin, under the direction
of a doctor, began taking medication to darken his skin. Black Like Me is Griffins personal account of the racism
that he experienced during his several weeks passing as a “black man”
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
By Malcom X co-written with Alex Haxley
The Autobiography of Malcolm X defines American culture and the African American struggle for social and
economic equality that has now become a battle for survival. Malcolm’s fascinating perspective on the lies and
limitations of the American Dream, and the inherent racism in a society that denies its nonwhite citizens the
opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.