tWelcome to AP world History

The Summer Reading Assignment is found directly following the unit 1 syllabus :

AP World History 2008-2009
Unit 1 – Foundations c. 8000 BCE to 600 CE
Mrs. Martinez

The course will break for unit tests only five times during the year.  These breaks correspond to the
Periodization recommended for the Advanced Placement World History course.   Unit tests are to mirror the AP test:  Multiple Choice questions and essays.   However, each chapter  will have multiple choice quizzes.  At the end of each Unit the AP student will turn in a folder of required materials that are to
be prepared as we work through each unit.  These will not always be included on the syllabus except for gentle reminders.

It is recommended that students read each chapter in one sitting in order to be prepared for the in-
depth discussion that occurs in class.  The text is the student’s background material for topics discussed.
                      

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Summer Reading Assignments for AP  World History

Assignments for GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL and GENGHIS KHAN AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD are required.   
 

  Directions for GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL by Jared Diamond
    Read Chapters 1-8 and chapter 18

Answer each of the following questions. 

There will be a reading assessment on the first or second day of class.

 What was Yali's question?  Why do you think that Diamond
        is intrigued by the question?

 In chapter 1:  How does Diamond address the question "What significance, if any
   do the continent's differing dates of settlement have for subsequent
   history?" 

 In chapter 2 :  Why did Diamond believe that Oceania was a good place to undertake
             his experiment?

In chapter 3 :  Why was food production a "prerequisite for the development of guns,
             germs, and steel" according to Diamond? 
             Be able Interpret the meaning of Fig. 4.1 on page 87.

In chapter 5 - What are the central questions posed in this chapter?
             

In chapter 6 :  Diamond says that food production and hunting-gathering are
            "alternative strategies competing with each other."  What did
            he mean by that statement?
           

            According to Diamond there were five main factors contributing
            to the rise of food production.   What are they?  Which one was
            most important in your opinion?  Which was the least important?  In chapter 8: 

            How does Diamond answer the major questions raised in this chapter?
            Why did agriculture not arise independently in some places where it
                       could have?
            Why in places where it did arise did people turn to farming much
                              earlier in some places than in others?

One of the major themes in APWH is migration.   Diamond deals with the Polynesian
migrations in chapter 18. 

      In chapter 18 Diamond states:  "The Austronesian expansion "was among the biggest
      population movements in the last 6,000 years."  Briefly explain what he meant by
      that statement, so that someone who has not read the book would understand it.
      What was meant by the Austronesian "cultural package?   
      How can the study of language assist us in reconstructing some of the features of
      societies that existed thousands of years ago?

You are encouraged to read the rest of the book if time permits. 

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II.  Directions for GENGHIS KHAN AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD by
     Jack Weatherford.

Be able to discuss the following  
            a.  What was the author's intent on writing the book and what is his thesis.
            b.  What kinds of evidence/sources does the author use?  Are these cited?
                 Does the evidence enhance or detract from his point of view?
            c.  Was the author successful?  Did he persuade you to his point of view?
                 Keep your interest?   Was the book useful to ones understanding of the
                 history of the period?

2.   According to Weatherford, Temujin made innovative changes in how he governed
      his empire over the traditional methods of ruling of other empires of the time.
      Be able to describe and explain the merits of at least five of these innovations.  Cite the
      page numbers for these innovations.

3.   As you read take note of the following quotes.   Be able to discuss the meaning of each
     quote to the great Khan's life.
    
              a.   Increasingly, paper was the most potent weapon in Genghis Khan's
                    arsenal.
              b.   He never fought the same war twice.
              c.   Hiding in the forest of Mount Burkhan Khaldun , Temujin faced the
                    pivotal decision of his life:
              d.   The more he conquered, the more he had to conquer.
              e.   As the Japanese scholar Hidehiro Okada wrote, "the greatest legacy
                    of the Mongol Empire bequeathed to the Chinese is the Chinese
                    nation itself."
              f.   The Mongols had the power, at least temporarily to improve international
                    systems of technology, agriculture, and knowledge that superceded the
                    predilections or prejudices of any single civilization; and in so doing,
                    they broke the monopoly on thought exercised by local elites.
              g.  Genghis Khan was ....the heir of ten thousand years of war between the
                    nomadic tribes and the civilized world, the ancient struggle of the
                    hunter and herder against the farmer.