Welcome to AP US History!!
As you prepare for the upcoming academic school year, your AP US History teacher wants to
enhance your understanding of events in United States History, as well as, support your reading,
writing, and thinking skills.
During the summer, please read any two of the books listed and complete the book critique
essays for each book. Both critiques must be completed and submitted by the deadline date in
the first quarter of the school year.
BOOK CRITIQUE RUBRIC
The book critiques (2) should be written in standard essay form, be about 3 pages in length,
typed 12 font, Times New Roman, have a cover page and use proper grammar. Contents must
include:
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1. The Story
What is the story, in brief? Do not spend too much time on this topic
20 pts
2. Background of book
What is the historical and geographical setting?
What historical timer period does this book deal with?
20 pts
3. Background of the author
20 pts.
Who is the person writing the book?
Why did the author choose to write the book?
Is there a definite viewpoint or bias expressed?
If the book is a fictional account, does it cover an historical event, a true story, an
eyewitness or autobiographical account, a work of fiction based on general/historical
information?
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If the book is nonfiction, how does the author present the event or time period?
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4. Application
What do you think can be learned in terms of U.S. History and the
culture of this nation?
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Was it written in the time period of which it deals with?
20 pts.
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5. Evaluation
20 pts.
What parts of the book or quotation from the book will be indelibly etched on your mind?
What human connections did the book help to make for you with other places and
peoples, and other times?
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What makes this story part of history in the U.S.? What makes it a classic?
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Each of the above questions should be discussed in at least 1 paragraph. Try not to be vague.
Use specific parts of the book to explain your points and give a complete, specific and detailed
picture of the historical context. In other words, don’t just say “Western US during the 1800s.
Give definite dates, places, people, and events.
Exploration
Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jarred Diamond
Colonization
The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Revolutionary America
Common Sense, Thomas Paine
New Nation
The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18
Westward Expansion
The Deerslayer, James F. Cooper
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3285
The Last of the Mohicans, James F. Cooper
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/940
The Significance of the Frontier in American History, Frederick Jackson Turner
Reform and Enlightenment
Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/71
Walden, Henry David Thoreau
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/205
Antebellum South
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/74
Slavery and Abolition
Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriett Beecher Stowe
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/203
Civil War
The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/73
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, James McPherson
Populists
Oz Series, Frank L. Baum
Industrialization
The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/140
The Gilded Age, Mark Twain
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3178
Urbanization
Twenty Years At Hull House, Jane Addams
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1325
Progressive Movement
Women and the New Race, Margaret Sanger
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8660
The Souls of Black Folk, W. E. B. Du Bois
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/408
The Red Record, Ida Wells-Barnett
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14977
Mob Rule in New Orleans, Ida Wells-Barnett
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14976
Imperialism
The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, Alfred T. Mahan
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13529
World War I
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
1920s
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Great Depression
Fireside Chats of Franklin Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5767
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, William E. Leuchtenburg
World War II
Nazi Policy, Jewish Workers, German Killers, Christopher R. Browning
Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley
Hiroshima, John Hersey
1950s America
Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser.
The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan
McCarthyism
Red Scare or Red Menace? John E. Haynes
Cold War
The Cold War - A Military History, ed. Robert Cowley
Vietnam
America's Longest War: The United States in Vietnam, George Herring
Civil Rights Movement
A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Alex Haley
Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63, Taylor Branch
Contemporary America
All The President’s Men, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
Environmentalism
Silent Spring, Rachel Carson