AP summer reading, 2016-2017
Art: 3-4 good works completed over the break
Biology: online text reading and activities
Calculus: "are you ready for calculus" packet
Language and Composition: Montuori's second semester AP Language and Composition students need to read anything and everything they can. Complete the school-assigned summer reading and any and all other reading they can (nonfiction preferred).
Literature and Composition: read A Warrior's Heart: Becoming a Man of Compassion and Courage. As you complete your reading, make note of:
- meaningful questions;
- observations (with text support);
- significant quotations;
- points that demonstrate good leadership.
Students should also read one additional book from the high school summer reading list.
US History: Read and response Chapter 1 in textbook Give Me Liberty!
Chapter 1 from: Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States
Howard Zinn was a remarkable historian and writer, as well as a professor at Boston University. This book presents a different perspective than most on American history, namely, that of regular people. Because of that, it provides a fresh look at history from the point of view of those who are not always considered in sweeping summaries of U.S. history.
Your task is to read the first chapter, “Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress” and then answer the following questions. Answers may be typed or hand-written, but must be in my possession (either physically or online) by the first day of school.
Link to Zinn’s book: http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html
1. According to Zinn, how is Columbus portrayed in traditional history textbooks?
2. Why does Zinn dispute Henry Kissinger’s statement: “History is the memory of states”?
3. What major issues does Bartolome de las Casas bring up regarding Spanish expeditions in the Caribbean?
4. How did gold earrings lead to the Arawak’s downfall?
5. What way(s) did the Arawaks resist suppression by Columbus’ men?
6. What were encomiendas?
7. Explain the Zinn statement: “Total control led to total cruelty.”
8. What was the significance of Quetzalcoatl?
9. Compare the strategies and motives underlying the conquest of the Aztecs by Cortez and the conquest of the Incas by Pizzaro.
10. What were the major causes of the war between Powhatan and the English settlers?
11. Explain Governor Winthrop’s two-part justification for seizing Indian land.
12. What ultimately happened to the estimated 10 million Indians living in North America at the time of Columbus’ arrival?
13. How does Zinn attempt to prove that the Indians were not inferior? Provide 2 examples.
14. Identify and describe Howard Zinn’s bias. How does this impact his writings of history?
World History: read A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage and complete a map project.