The Metropolitan Learning Center - AP World History Summer Reading List 2008-2009
Mrs. Caryn Stedman

1. Everyone MUST read:

*Pomeranz, Kenneth, ed. The World that Trade Created (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe)
2000.

*Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. (New
York: Norton) 1999.

2. You MUST read at least THREE additional books from the following list, at least one in each category. You must complete the attached sheet for each book. During the first week of class, you will be tested on your analysis of the books.

*Those planning to take the AP European History Exam should read these books.

CATEGORY ONE: REGIONAL HISTORIES

Aczel, Amir. Pendulum : Leon Foucault and the Triumph of Science (Atria) 2003.*

Crowley, Roger. 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West. (Hyperion) 2006.

Dunn, Ross E. The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveller of the 14th
Century (Berkeley: University of California Press) 1990.

Dower, John W. War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (Pantheon
Books) 1987.

Equiano, Olaudiah. The Interesting Narrative in the Life of Olaudiah Equiano (any edition)

Gingerich, Owen. The Book Nobody Read : Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus (Walker and Company) 2004.*

Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold's Ghost. (New York: Houghton Mifflin) 1999.

Mann, Charles. 1491: New Revelations of the America’s Before Columbus. 2006.

Mansfield, Peter. A History of the Middle East (Penguin) 1991, 2003.

Maalouf, Amin & Jon Rothschild. The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. (Schocken Books) 1989.

Manchester, William. A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age (Back Bay Books) 1993*

Philbrick, Nathan. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. 2006

Phillips, Jonathan. The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople

Shorto, Russell. The Island at the Center of the World : The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America (Doubleday: Random House) 2004*

Tackett, Timothy. When the King Took Flight. (Harvard University Press 2003)*

Tuchman, Barbara. Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. (Ballantine Books) *1987.*

Tuchman, Barbara. The Guns of August. (Ballantine Books) 1994.*

Waley-Cohen, Joanna. The Sextants of Beijing: Global Currents in Chinese History
(New York: W.W. Norton & Company) 2000.

CATEGORY TWO: GLOBAL HISTORY/ISSUES

Abu-Lughod, Janet L. Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D.
1250-1350 (Oxford: Oxford University Press) 1991.

Blaut, J.M. The Colonizer’s Model of the World. (New York: The Guilford Press) 1993.

Crosby. Alfred. Ecological Imperialism: the Biological Expansion of Europe 900- 1900. (Cambridge University Press) 1986.*

Landes, David. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations (New York: Norton) 1999.*

Kurlansky, Mark. Salt: A World History. (Penguin Books) 2003.*

MacFarlane, Alan & Iris. The Empire of Tea. (Overlook Press) 2004.

McNeil, William. Plagues and People. (Anchor Books) 1998.*

Milton, Giles. Nathaniel's Nutmeg (New York: Penguin) 2000.*

Mintz, Sidney W. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History (Viking Press) 1995.

Said, Edward. Orientalism. (New York: Vintage) 1978.

Sobel, Dava. Longitude The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest
Scientific Problem of His Time (New York: Penguin) 1996.*

Willis, John E. Jr. 1688. A Global History. (W. W. Norton & Company) 2002.

CATEGORY THREE: BIOGRAPHY/LITERATURE/ HISTORICAL FICTION

Bawlf, Samuel. The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake. (Walker and Company) 2003.*

Bell, Madison Smart. All Souls’ Rising. (Penguin 1996)

Chang, Jung. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (New York: Anchor World Views) 1992.

Fillet, Ken. The Pillars of the Earth. (New York: Signet ) 1996.

Garcia-Marquez, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Perennial) 1998.

Joyner Tim & William Manchester. Magellan (International Marine/Ragged Mountain
Press) 1994*

Larner, John. Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World (New Haven: Yale University Press) 1991.

Naipaul, V.S. Half a Life (New York: Vintage International). 2001

Orwell, George. Burmese Days. (Harvest Books) 1974. or any edition.

Tanizaki, Junichiro. The Makioka Sisters. (any edition)

Valenze, Deborah M. The First Industrial Woman. Oxford University Press. 1995.*

Additional highly recommended literature, especially for those planning to take the AP European History exam and all those who wish to be well-educated:
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness
De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex
De Cervantes, Miguel Don Quixote (Modern Library Classics)
Dickens, Charles, Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevsky, Fedor (Constance Garnett, trans) The Brothers Karamozov
Dumas, Alexandre The Count of Monte Cristo
Machiavelli, Niccolo The Prince
Marx, Karl. The Communist Manifesto
More, Sir Thomas. Utopia
Newton, Isaac. The Principia : Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
Orwell, George. Animal Farm
Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet on the Western Front
Hugo, Victor, (trans by Norman MacAfee) Les Miserables
Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina
Tolstoy, Leo. The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Voltaire, Candide