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Text Box: 2010 Summer Reading List for
AP European History
(Note the TWO parts to your summer assignment)

This reading will help you get a jump-start on AP European History before the first day of class.  Please e-mail me before the end of the school year at Michael.Featherstone@bexleyschools.org with an e-mail address and phone number where you may be reached during the summer.  If you have questions or problems, please e-mail me right away.  Enjoy your reading and have a great summer! I look forward to working with you next year!

Mr. Featherstone

  Part 1 –BACKGROUND READING

Since the Ancient and Medieval worlds are no longer studied in most Ohio high schools, students typically lack the historical perspective necessary to understand the foundations of Early Modern Europe.  This makes it difficult to discuss, for instance, issues of change and continuity.  For this reason, you will do some reading on the background of Early Modern Europe.    Specifically, you will read the packet “The Rise of Europe” (the first chapter from a different European History textbook) — I have provided a photocopy for your use; feel free to underline, highlight, and otherwise mark it up.

cathedral image Part 2 – Ross King’s Michelangelo & the Pope’s Ceiling

Ross King, Michelangelo & The Pope’s Ceiling, (Penguin, 2003), paperback (list price $16.00). ISBN-10: 0142003697

Also, because we have so much to cover before the AP exams in May, you will also read material on the Renaissance before the beginning of school.  This is an excellent and very readable account of the creation of one of the most famous pieces of art in history.  It not only tells an interesting story, but gives you an excellent sense of the Renaissance, some of its key figures, and some clues as the origins of the Reformation (trust me). Please purchase and read this so that we will all be literally and figuratively “on the same page.” 

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This material will be on the first test of the year, which will cover themes from the Rise of Europe AND the Pope’s Ceiling – I will not ask you dates or specific people (although you will need to remember people so central to King’s work that it would be impossible to read without knowing who they are – like, say, Michelangelo or Julius III).  Be prepared for this! So, to recap:  TWO readings (one I provide, one you buy).