History and Global Studies

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All history students are expected to pay attention to local, national, and international news, at least once a week, to help make connections between past and current events.

Modern World History

  1. Read the following three articles on the question of why we should study history and prepare to use them in a graded discussion in the first week of classes.

Annotate the readings with the following questions in mind:

      • What are the authors’ theses or claims?
      • What/where is the best evidence the authors provide for their theses or additional claims?
      • Where are the weak points in their arguments?
      • What are the similarities and differences in these authors’ arguments?
      • How would you evaluate the usefulness or reliability of these sources?
      • What lessons can we draw as historians from these readings?
      • What were you confused about in the reading? What do you need help understanding?
      • What questions, observations, connections remain that you want to make?

AP World History

    • Read the Prologue of our textbook, Ways of the World Since 1200, Fourth Edition, by Robert W. Strayer and Eric W. Nelson (pp. xxxix – xlvi) (ISBN 13: 978-1-319-23657-1   ISBN 10: 1-319-23657-X)
    • Read Chapter 1 Ways of the World Since 1200 (pp. 2 – 40).
    • Read one of the following books on the question of why we should study history and prepare to use them in a graded discussion in the first week of classes.
    • Prepare for a graded discussion (see details below)

The summer work is worth two homework grades. The first grade is your written preparation for a graded discussion, worth one homework grade.

That preparation requires you to do the following: Answer (in writing that will be turned in and graded for completion) the five discussion questions below. For at least three of the discussion questions, include in your answer a quotation or passage that supports your answer.

The discussion itself, conducted in the first week of school, is worth one homework grade as well.

The following paragraph explains why we offer a choice of a books rather than assigning a specific one for everyone to read.

In AP World History, you have an opportunity to learn how to read, write, and think like a historian. Historians carry out their work by analyzing primary sources and building logically sound arguments based on a careful reading of the evidence. For this reason, historical narratives are interpretations, not reiterations of fact. When historians write books based on their interpretation of the sources, they see the past through those sources’ eyes. This means that all history books examine the past through a “lens” – that is, through the eyes of the subjects (or objects, or ideas) they center in their narratives. This is why generations of historians have been able to write about the exact same events without repeating the exact same stories and conclusions; by investigating the past through a different lens, historians can view the same events from a new angle or point of view and discover new insights. Shifting the lens allows us to discover details, connections, and patterns that others miss.

    1. Social history: Chris Harman, A People’s History of the World: From the Stone Age to the New Millenium (2017)
    2. Women’s history: Rosalind Miles, The Women’s History of the Modern World: How Radicals, Rebels, and Everywomen
      Revolutionized the Last 200 Years       (2021)
    3. Great-man history: Jack Weatherford, Genghis Kahn and the Making of the Modern World (2005)
    4. Religious history: Tamim Ansary, Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes (2010)
    5. History of Networks: Peter Frankopan, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World (2005)
    6. History of Natural Resources: Ed Conway, Material World: The Six Raw Materials that Shape Modern Civilization (2023)
    7. Food history: Tom Standage, An Edible History of Humanity (2009)

Here are the questions to prepare and that will be discussed.

    1. To what extent does your book challenge the idea that history is primarily shaped by massive empires, great leaders, and political events?
    2. What new perspectives or insights about the past does your book’s historical lens allow you to see that might otherwise have been missing from a more traditional, state-centered history?
    3. When historians choose to examine the past through one specific lens, they often do so at the exclusion of other lenses. Thus, while the lenses we use to examine history allow us to see the past from new perspectives, they also limit our view in other ways. What kinds of things are not included in your book because of the author’s choice of historical lens?
    4. Taken together, these books all illustrate how empires, networks, religions, and ordinary people have both preserved and reshaped traditions over time. Based on the book you selected, do you think history is best understood as a series of dramatic changes, or as a long, evolving process where change occurs gradually over time? Why?
    5. Each of these books presents a different reason as to why history matters. What reasons or insights does your book offer to the question of why we should study history?

Standard United States History

    1. Read and study 10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America. (ISBN 13: 978-0-307-33934-8   ISBN 10: 0-307-33934-3).

We will be referring to this book throughout the year-long US Government and Politics course as we study US history through the lens of American government. Make a chapter summary of no more than a page for each chapter that includes:

    • The years the chapter encompasses
    • The primary individuals that participated in the events
    • What tensions or changes in American society did each event depict
    • What the outcome of each event revealed about American society at that particular time.
    • Your own new view that illustrates the event or issue in the chapter – this can be a statement or two that connects the event to the present, a cartoon, an illustration, a poem or a song. It should show creativity AND thoughtful engagement with the chapter.
    1. What’s the 11thday? Write a chapter introduction (3 paragraphs) for an 11th chapter in a new edition of the book Ten Days that Unexpectedly Changed America. It needs to be a day that occurred between 1964 and 2023. Show thoughtful engagement with ideas of the book – make sure it fits. Think about the approach Steven M. Gillon takes. Do not choose Sept 11, 2001 or Jan 6, 2021; instead, choose a date you can explain in ways similar to the case Gillon makes in each chapter.

AP United States History

    1. Read and study 10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America. (ISBN 13: 978-0-307-33934-8   ISBN 10: 0-307-33934-3).

We will be referring to this book throughout the year-long AP United States History course as we study US history through the lens of American government. Make a chapter summary of no more than a page for each chapter that includes:

    • The years the chapter encompasses
    • The primary individuals that participated in the events
    • What tensions or changes in American society did each event depict
    • What the outcome of each event revealed about American society at that particular time.
    • Your own new view that illustrates the event or issue in the chapter – this can be a statement or two that connects the event to the present, a cartoon, an illustration, a poem or a song. It should show creativity AND thoughtful engagement with the chapter.
    1. What’s the 11thday? Write a chapter introduction (3 paragraphs) for an 11th chapter in a new edition of the book Ten Days that Unexpectedly Changed America. It needs to be a day that occurred between 1964 and 2023. Show thoughtful engagement with ideas of the book – make sure it fits. Think about the approach Steven M. Gillon takes. Do not choose Sept 11, 2001 or Jan 6, 2021; instead, choose a date you can explain in ways similar to the case Gillon makes in each chapter
    2. Read Introduction and Units 1 and 2 in textbook: United States History, Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination (ISBN 13: 978-1-5311-2912-5   ISBN 10: 1-5311-2912-9). Complete some of the review exercises at the end of each chapter as practice (not to be turned in or graded). Be familiar with the historical thinking skills and historical themes that are explained in the introduction.

AP United States Government

    1. Read pp. 2-23 (Chapter 1) in the textbook (Abernathy and Waples, American Government: Stories of a Nation.) (ISBN 13: 978-1-319-34498-6   ISBN 10: 1-319-34498-4)
    2. Read and study 10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America. (ISBN 13: 978-0-307-33934-8   ISBN 10: 0-307-33934-3).

We will be referring to this book throughout the year-long US Government and Politics course as we study US history through the lens of American government. Make a chapter summary of no more than a page for each chapter that includes:

    • The years the chapter encompasses
    • The primary individuals that participated in the events
    • What tensions or changes in American society did each event depict
    • What the outcome of each event revealed about American society at that particular time.
    • Your own new view that illustrates the event or issue in the chapter – this can be a statement or two that connects the event to the present, a cartoon, an illustration, a poem or a song. It should show creativity AND thoughtful engagement with the chapter.
    1. What’s the 11thday? Write a chapter introduction (3 paragraphs) for an 11th chapter in a new edition of the book Ten Days that Unexpectedly Changed America. It needs to be a day that occurred between 1964 and 2023. Show thoughtful engagement with ideas of the book – make sure it fits. Think about the approach Steven M. Gillon takes. Do not choose Sept 11, 2001 or Jan 6, 2021; instead, choose a date you can explain in ways similar to the case Gillon makes in each chapter.

European History

  1. Read the following three articles on the question of why we should study history and prepare to use them in a graded discussion in the first week of classes.
    1. Jim Grossman, “Op-Ed: History Isn’t a Useless Major. It Teaches Critical Thinking, Something America Needs Plenty More Of” (LA Times, 2016).    https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-grossman-history-major-in-decline-20160525-snap-story.html
    2. Alex Poulin, “Why You Must Study History, Now More Than Ever” (Medium, 2019).   https://medium.com/applied-history/you-are-not-humble-if-you-dont-study-history-here-s-why-125cdc37da83
    3. Yuval Harari, “A Brief History of Lawns,” in Homo Deus (See Attachment)

Annotate the readings with the following questions in mind:

    • What are the authors’ theses or claims?
    • What/where is the best evidence the authors provide for their theses or additional claims?
    • Where are the weak points in their arguments?
    • What are the similarities and differences in these authors’ arguments?
    • How would you evaluate the usefulness or reliability of these sources?
    • What lessons can we draw as historians from these readings?
    • What were you confused about in the reading? What do you need help understanding?
    • What questions, observations, connections remain that you want to make?

AP European History

  1. Read Chapter 11 – The Later Middle Ages – A History of Western European Society, 13th Edition. (ISBN 13: 978-1-319-22163-8 ISBN 10: 1-319-22163-7).
  2. Complete “Identify Key Terms” and “Review the Main Ideas” at the end of the chapter. Be prepared to turn in written answers on the first day of classes.

AP Macro- and Microeconomics

Part 1: Listen to podcast episodes: Freakonomics podcast, available on Spotify or other podcast apps, or directly at freakonomics.com.

Required:

      1. Economics of Everyday Things, Episode 1: Gas Stations
      2. Freakonomics Radio, Episode 96: The Cobra Effect
      3. No Stupid Questions, Episode 129 Why do we Cheat?
      4. Freakonomics Radio, Episode 373: Rent Control

Your choice:

Listen to at least 90 more minutes of episodes from the Freakonomics radio family of podcasts. (Freakonomics Radio are usually 45 minutes, Everyday Things are 15, No Stupid Questions are 30) Browse through the listings to choose something that interests you!

Part 2: Writing

Summarize what you heard and learned in a total of 600 words. You can discuss whatever you like related to your listening. Some possible topics include:

      1. What optional episodes did you pick, and why?
      2. What did you find interesting? Frustrating? Surprising? Counter-intuitive?
      3. Did your opinion of something change while listening and learning?

Williston Scholars – History and Global Studies

Read the Introduction and Chapters 1, 2 and 4 in Essaying the Past 4th Ed by Jim Cullen (ISBN 13: 978-1-119-70839-1   ISBN 10: 1-119-70839-7). Answer the following questions about AT LEAST TWO and NO MORE THAN FOUR potential topics for your paper.  Topics can range from History to Philosophy, Religion, or Economics.  Be creative and think of what you’re passionate about!

      1. One paragraph explaining the main idea of your paper. What are you going to study?  What do you hope to achieve?
      2. One paragraph that explains your interest in this topic. Why are you interested in this topic?  Can you trace the source of your interest?  Will this project connect to other areas of interest in your life?