AP WORLD HISTORY

SUMMER ASSIGNMENT 2014

About the APWH course:
You have chosen to join the fastest growing AP course in America. AP World History is a rigorous yet enriching course of study. This college-level
class entails the study of 10,000 years of history in 35 weeks. It will demand more attention and time than any other class you have ever previously
encountered because you have the opportunity to earn college credit by passing the College Board’s APWH exam with a score of 3, 4, or 5.
Assignments for the AP World History class are extremely challenging. The text is a college-level textbook and is written at a significantly higher
reading level than most history textbooks. AP World History has a significantly large amount of reading assignments and students are expected to
read daily in preparation for class. Throughout the school year, we will discuss specifically what to expect from the class and from the AP exam.
You should expect to spend approximately thirty minutes to one hour each night of the week in preparation for class.

Summer Assignment:
The purpose of the summer assignment is to provide you with a foundation for the study of world history and current global issues. It is imperative
that you complete this assignment in a thoughtful and analytical fashion. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE. We have provided the College
Board AP World History Themes and the Habits of Mind to help guide you when completing your assignments. These themes are essential to our
course and we refer to these throughout the year. They are also the basis for the three essays on the AP exam.

Habits of Mind:
1. Construct and evaluate arguments: use evidence to make plausible arguments;
2. Use primary sources: develop the skills necessary to analyze point of view, context and bias, and to understand and interpret information;
3. Develop the ability to assess issues of change and continuity over time; and
4. Enhance the capacity to handle diversity of interpretation through analysis of context, bias, and fame of reference.

AP Themes:
AP World History highlights six over arching themes that should receive equal attention throughout the course:
1. Patterns and impacts of interaction among major societies: (trade, war, diplomacy, and international organizations).
2. The relationship of change and continuity across the world history periods covered in this course.
3. Impact of technology and demography on people and the environment (population growth and decline, manufacturing, migrations, agriculture).
4. Systems of social structure and gender structure (comparing major features within and among societies and assessing change).
5. Cultural and intellectual developments and interactions among and within societies.
6. Change in functions and structures of states and in attitudes toward political identities, including the emergence of the nation-state.

The Summer Reading Book:

This year’s summer reading assignment is A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. In this book,
Standage tells a popular history of the world and some of the most significant civilizations in history by following the
development of 6 influential beverages. The 6 beverages are: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, & Coca Cola. These
beverages have played a significant role in driving trade and interaction between some of the most significant
regions and empires in world history. Our purpose in reading the book is to gain a sense of how civilizations and
cultures develop and how they are affected by various forces (social, political, economic, and cultural).

You will need to read the book A History of the World in Six Glasses. Read the instructions carefully.

Publisher: Walker Publishing Company/ISBN-0802715524/Approximately $6-$12

*(DISCLAIMER: The use of this book as a summer reading assignment in NO way represents any endorsement by
the teachers of Lamar High School of the consumption of these beverages! The book is simply meant to provide an
interesting view of civilizations and trade, from which we can initiate our year-long discussion of world history.)

The summer assignment will be posted on: www.lamarhs.org

Register at the turnitin.com website. Go to "create a user profile" at top right corner.

It will eventually ask for the class ID and enrollment password:

Class ID: 8072642 Password: texans (case sensitive)

You will turn your study questions to the 2014 AP World History folder and with the proper World History Teacher at turnitin.com.
Turnitin.com will verify that the work you turn in is your work alone. Plagiarism will be punished by point deduction on final grade.
0-25% similarity is acceptable. 26-50% similarity is -20 points. 51-75% similarity is -40 points. 76-100% similarity is -60 points.

Be prepared to also discuss the book and/or write an essay within the first few days of school.
We advise you to pace your reading over a few weeks during the summer.
DON’T wait until the last few days before school to begin this assignment.
Study Questions
The questions provided for this book are meant to get you thinking about history.

DO NOT RETYPE THE QUESTIONS. Answers must be in complete sentences and submitted to turnitin.com.

Introduction—“Vital Fluids”
1. What is the author’s main thesis (argument) in setting up his book?
2. Why/how are these fluids “vital”?

“Beer in Mesopotamia and Egypt” (Chapters 1 and 2):

1. How is the discovery of beer linked to the growth of the first “civilizations”?
2. What does this history of beer in the ancient world tell us about early civilizations?
3. What sources does the author use to gather information on the use of beer?
4. What were some of the uses of beer by ancient cultures? Nourishment? Ritual? Religious?
5. How did beer “civilize” man, according to Standage?

“Wine in Greece and Rome” (Chapters 3 and 4):

1. How did the use of wine differ from that of beer in ancient Greece and Rome?
2. How was wine used by the Greeks?
3. How and why did wine develop into a form of a status symbol in Greece?
4. How was wine consumed? What does this tell us about ancient Greek culture?
5. How did the use of wine in Roman culture differ from that of ancient Greece?
6. What is the relationship between wine and empire, medicine, and religion?

“Spirits in the Colonial Period” (Chapters 5 and 6):

1. What is the origin of distilled spirits?
2. What is the connection between spirits and colonization?
3. How was the production of spirits connected to slavery?
4. What role did spirits play on the high seas?
5. Why were spirits an important staple in Colonial America?
6. How did Rum play a role in the American Revolution?

“Coffee in the Age of Reason” (Chapters 7 and 8):

1. Where and how did coffee originate?
2. Explain the importance of coffeehouses.
3. How did coffee influence this new age of scientific learning and rational thought in Europe?
4. How was the use of coffee in society different from previous beverages?
5. How was the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment a sharp break from the past?

“Tea and the British Empire” (Chapters 9 and 10):

1. When did tea first become a mainstream drink in Asia? In Europe?
2. How did the consumption of tea in Europe differ from how it was consumed in China and Japan?
3. If tea arrived in Europe around the same time as coffee, why did it not find the immediate success that coffee had?
4. How did tea transform English society? Who were its main consumers and what were some of the new rituals that surrounded tea?
5. How was tea an integral part of the Industrial Revolution?
6. What was the connection between tea and politics?
7. How was tea connected to the opium trade and the Opium War of 1839- 1842?
8. What role did the tea trade and production play in the British rule over India?

“Coca-Cola and the Rise of America” (Chapters 11 and 12):

1. What was the origin of Coca-Cola?
2. How was the beverage used medically? What were the additives?
3. What was the relationship between Coca-Cola and World War II?
4. How was Coca-Cola thought of by the communists during the Cold War?
5. What is meant by “globalization in a bottle?”

Epilogue—“Back to the Source”

1. Do you agree or disagree with Standage’s argument in the epilogue?
2. Will water be the most influential beverage in shaping the global situation of the next 100+ years? Why or why not?