GG&S Discussion Questions

AP World History: Extra Credit – MP1 NAME: ______Assessing Other Views of World History Due: ____ Thurs 11/1 (book club after school) OR Wed 11/7 (essay)___

I find extra credit opportunities to be a chance to engage in activities or information that we don’t typically get to do. In my opinion this means that extra credit should require work, learning new material, and connecting this new information to our course.

Situation: As the 1st marking period of AP World History comes to a close, it may be a good time to solidify the history we have learned and open our mind to the history that we are yet to learn. Alternative views and narratives of history not only help make history more memorable, but also help challenge assumptions that arise from the single interpretation of global events that may develop in history class or in a textbook.

This assignment asks you to read one such author’s interpretation of history. Tom Standage’s History of the World in Six Glasses explores the significant role that six beverages have played in the world's history. Few realize the prominence of beer in ancient Egypt, but it was crucial to both cultural and religious life throughout the Fertile Crescent. Wine's history has been recounted in many places, and its use to avoid often--polluted water supplies made it ubiquitous wherever grapes could be easily cultivated. Spirits, first manufactured by Arabs and later rejected by them with the rise of Islam, played a fundamental role in the ascendance of the British navy. As a stimulant, coffee found no hostility within Islam's tenets, and its use spread as the faith moved out of Arabia into Asia and Europe. Tea enjoyed similar status, and it bound China and India to the West. Cola drinks, a modern American phenomenon, relied on American mass-marketing skills to achieve dominance.

Purpose:  Review large scale developments that impacted Ancient, Classical, and Post-Classical periods while previewing the rest of world history to come.

Task:  Assess the historical interpretation made by History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage and the relationship of this narrative to our study of history in WHAP.

Procedure: 1. Obtain a copy of History of the World in Six Glasses from a library or book store. 2. Read the book. 3. Discuss the book for an hour after school (Socratic seminar) or write an essay that considers the themes uncovered in the following questions: o What did you find surprising about the facts introduced in this book? . How has reading this book changed your opinion of a certain person or topic? . How has the book increased your knowledge/interest in the subject matter? . What food/drink would you argue has had the greatest impact on the societies it has encountered? o Organizing history in this manner offers some implicit arguments. What is the author’s argument? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this argument? . How does the author attempt to build their argument? . Does Standage seem to have a bias? . Pick an example from the book that you think was a definitive example of one of history’s “lessons.” . What lessons should be learned regarding today’s most highly valued commodities? o Assess Standage’s summary of developments during the Ancient, Classical, and Post-Classical periods. . Obviously, he could not cover everything, but with the information he does select, does his narrative represent this history fairly? . Does Standage omit major developments during these periods that are central to understanding them? Why? How? o Preview the span of history from 1450 to the present. What major developments can be gleaned from Six Glasses? . How did humanity “get” to our current conditions from 1450? . What food/drink/commodity would you trace in order to represent today? Why?