AP United States History
Start this college-level class off on the right foot and give your best effort on this summer reading and
writing. Start earlier rather than later and know that I am expecting your best effort.
Have a terrific summer!
Dr. Lawson [email protected]
Purchase a new or gently used book that has not already been marked:
Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick,
Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Vintage; March 1964
ISBN: 978-0143111979
Cost: $15.23 at Barnes and Noble or used much cheaper at most used bookstores. You may also purchase it
used for as little as $0.01 at amazon.com.
Required summer reading
Read all of Mayflower, marking those selections as directed by Mortimer J. Adler’s “How to Mark a
Book” (see below). How well you follow those directions will count as a quiz grade (quality over
quantity). It will be obvious if you have put serious thought into the reading and the marking. Follow the
instructions and then respond to the questions on Mayflower at the end of this document.
Bring to class the first day of school:
_____1. Bring marked Mayflower book with your name in front (following Mortimer J. Adler’s
directions) Quiz grade (Include outline at front of book and index of 5 characters at the back)
_____2. Bring Mayflower typed paper. (Answers need to be thorough and written in paragraphs).
Test Grade
“How to Mark a Book” by Mortimer J. Adler, Ph.D.
Underlining (or highlighting): of major points, of important or forceful statements.
Vertical lines at the margin: to emphasize a statement already underlined.
Star, asterisk, or other doo-dad at the margin: to be used sparingly, to emphasize the
ten or twenty most important statements in the book. (You may want to fold the bottom
comer of each page on which you use such marks. It won't hurt the sturdy paper on which
most modern books are printed, and you will be able take the book off the shelf at any
time and, by opening it at the folded-corner page, refresh your recollection of the book.)
Numbers in the margin: to indicate the sequence of points the author makes in
developing a single argument. !!!!
Numbers of other pages in the margin: to indicate where else in the book the author
made points relevant to the point marked; to tie up the ideas in a book, which, though
they may be separated by many pages, belong together.
Circling or highlighting of key words or phrases.
Writing in the margin, or at the top or bottom of the page, for the sake of: recording
questions (and perhaps answers) which a passage raised in your mind; reducing a
complicated discussion to a simple statement; recording the sequence of major points
right through the books. [THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. THIS IS A KEY PLACE WHERE
I FIND OUT HOW WELL YOU UNDERSTOOD WHAT YOU READ AND WHAT KIND
OF GRADE YOU DESERVE]
_____1. While reading the book, make a personal index of five of the major characters at
the back end-papers.
_____ 2. At the front of the book outline the book, not page by page or point by point, but as
an integrated structure, with a basic unity and an order of parts.
Mayflower Discussion Questions
Write each answer in a paragraph(s).
Times New Roman, 12pt, 1” margins, name in upper right-hand corner
1. In a well-written paragraph of exactly 100 words, summarize the argument/purpose of the author of
Mayflower.
2. Site the five most striking examples of God’s Providence in the Pilgrim story. There are more than
five examples, but what five events leave the biggest impression on you?
3. Describe the differences between the original Pilgrims and the next generation (Puritans). Include a
discussion of the spiritual and economic differences as well as the differences in their interactions with
the Indians.
4. Site several acts of friendship between the Pilgrims and Indians.
5. How successful were the English at adapting their militia to the strategies used by the Indians in
war? Site examples.
6. Read the Mayflower Compact. How was the spirit of it violated by the trial of three Indians?
Consider the last days of King Philip’s War, when the English were close to victory. If you were in
command, what would you have done differently?
7. Write a separate paragraph of three of the most impressive people described in Mayflower and
summarize their importance in exactly 100 words for each person.