12th Grade History - Summer Reading
Please note there are 2 required readings.
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
A paper will be assigned during the first quarter. You will be asked to write about what reactions Paul and his comrades have and what choices they make. Make notes about their attitudes towards the following:
- nationalism
- authority
- God
- who the enemy is
- war
- life on the homefront
- any other important themes you can identify
The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad
by Fareed Zakaria
At the beginning of the school year we will discuss the introduction and first two chapters. Answer the questions below using active reading. When you reference the book, please note the page number in a parenthetical citation. Your answers to the questions will be collected the first day of class. Your answers must be typed; bullet points are acceptable, except for question #8. We will be discussing the book during the first cycle.
1. Define the following terms and give examples of each:
- Liberal democracy
- Constitutional liberalism
- Illiberal democracy
2. Why does Zakaria think that too much democracy can be bad? Do you agree?
3. Explain how, according to Zakaria, each of the following contributed to the emergence of liberty in the West:
- The Roman Catholic Church
- Feudalism
- The Reformation
- The Enlightenment
- Capitalism
- The American Revolution
4. Why can liberty and democracy clash?
5. Explain the difference in the development of democracy in England and Germany.
6. Explain Zakaria's view about where and why democracy will spread.
7. Explain Zakaria’s argument about the connection between economic development and democratization.
8. Relate Zakaria’s analysis to the current situation in Iraq. (Answer in a substantial paragraph)
Optional, but recommended:
Dr. Zhivago - Boris Pasternak
The Armies of the Night - Norman Mailer
The Perils of Prosperity - William Leuchtenberg
Only Yesterday - Frederick Lewis Allen
Inventing America - Garry Wills
Explaining America - Garry Wills
Hiroshima - John Hersey
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch - Alexander Sozhenitsyn
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
Going After Cacciato - Tim O'Brien
Is Paris Burning - Collins & LaPierre
Passage to India - E.M. Foster
1984 - George Orwell
Paris 1919 : Six Months That Changed the World - Margaret McMillan
The United States of Europe - T. R. Reed
The World is Flat - Thomas L. Friedman
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