2014 Honors World History Summer Reading Assignment
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2014 Honors World History Summer Reading Assignment
Book: Gombrich, E.H., A Little History of the World, Yale University Press: New Haven, 1985
Read Chapters 1 to 24
For the summer of 2014, answer questions: 4 or 19 AND 7 or 12 AND 14 or 18 AND 3 or 25 (for a total of four questions)
Questions are listed below.
Honors World History Due Date
This assignment is due on the first Friday of the first week of school.
This is NOT a collaborative assignment. All students are required to submit their own independent work.
This assignment will not be accepted late (no partial credit). Failure to submit the assignment on the due date will result in a zero for a Minor Assessment. Minor Assessments are 30% of your grade.
This summer reading assignment is also required from students given late enrollment into the course. It will be due three weeks from the date of enrollment. The assignment will not be accepted late for partial credit. Failure to submit the assignment on the due date will result in a zero for a Minor Assessment.
8 Important Points to Follow
1. Use MLA heading: Student’s Name, Mr. Stumpf or Mrs. Hughes, Honors World History, Date.
2. Write a MINIMUM 8-sentence paragraph for each of the four questions and clearly answer ALL PARTS of the question.
3. Each paragraph must open with a strong, clearly worded topic sentence that restates the question as a complete, declarative sentence.
4. Only use personal pronouns (I, me my) if the question specifically asks for your opinion.
5. Make sure that all information is historically accurate. If you are not sure, look it up!
6. Use examples and/or quotes from the book when answering the questions. Use quotation marks and citations. To cite an example or quote from page 25, for example, use the following format: (Gombrich 25) 7. Don’t use sweeping generalizations such as “people believe” or “countries around the world”.
8. Write a closing sentence to wrap up your answer. Use concluding words or phrases such as, “In summary…” “Finally…” or “Therefore… “ Summer 2014 Reading Questions
Directions: There are four categories of questions. Select one for each category for a total of four questions to answer.
Historiography 4 19 Classical Age 7 16-A Asian Religion/Philosophy 14 18 Conflict between 3 25 politics/history or ethics/religion Historiography
Chapter 4: “Sunday, Monday…”
4. What was the purpose of the Sumerian and Babylonian ziggurats? Explain with specifics that may include astrology, days of the week, and the general perception of the world in Mesopotamian times. (By the way, do you know what modern country is the home of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers?)
-OR-
Chapter 19: “The Starry Night Begins”
19. Write a summation of the contributions of monks in the Middle Ages both to their contemporaries and, possibly, to us.
Classical Age
Chapter 7: “Heroes and their Weapons”
7. Explain the development of early Greece. You may include sea raiders, Dorians, Ionians, and trade in your answer.
-OR-
Chapter 12: “The Greatest Adventure of All”
12. Alexander the Great built the largest empire up to his time. Consider one of the anecdotes such as the conversation with Diogenes or the “untying” of the Gordian knot or the marriage of 10,000 Greek and Macedonian soldiers to Persian women as representative of some value or quality of Alexander that truly made him great. Asian Religion/Philosophy
Chapter 14:”An Enemy of History”
14. Consider Emperor Shih Huang-ti’s reason for hating history. Should governments “control” history if they can justify this control with a practical goal or explanation? Also consider who, if not government, should control history.
-OR-
Chapter 18: “The Storm”
18. “The Storm,” or “Time of Migrations,” is a period of great movements of peoples and war. Read Chapter 18 and then research this time period on the internet. Use key words found in the chapter to direct your research. Last, draw a map that illustrates the great movements of the key tribes: the Huns, the Goths, the Vandals…
Conflict between politics/history or ethics/religion
Chapter 3: “The Land by the Nile”
3. Explain how Egyptian religious beliefs and traditions were intertwined with Egyptian politics. Did the pharaohs rely upon religious beliefs to maintain their absolute power? Explain with examples that may include pyramids, mummies, and Amon, the sun god.
-OR-
Chapter 25: “Cities and Citizens”
25. How was the “Babylonian Captivity of the popes” symbolic of a changing order in the later Middle Ages? (Who became the new masters and what demographic changes occurred?)