Text books for AP European History

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

<p>I am looking for a text book for euro. history. This is a list generated by collegeboard for this course but I am not sure, which book out of this list is the most recommended or the best one.</p>

<p>Chambers, Mortimer, et al. The Western Experience. New York: McGraw-Hill.</p>

<p>Coffin, Judith G., and Robert C. Stacey. Western Civilizations. New York: W. W. Norton.</p>

<p>Hunt, Lynn, et al. The Making of the West. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.</p>

<p>Kagan, Donald, Steven Ozment, and Frank M. Turner. The Western Heritage. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.</p>

<p>Kagan, Donald, Steven Ozment, and Frank M. Turner. The Western Heritage. TLC (brief) edition.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.</p>

<p>Kishlansky, Mark, Patricia O'Brien, and Patrick Geary. Civilization in the West. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Longman.</p>

<p>McKay, John P., Bennett D. Hill, and John Buckler. A History of Western Society Since 1400.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin.</p>

<p>Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present. New York:
W. W. Norton.</p>

<p>Noble, Thomas F. X., et al. Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.</p>

<p>Palmer, R. R., Joel Colton, and Lloyd Kramer. A History of the Modern World. New York:
McGraw-Hill.</p>

<p>Perry, Marvin. Western Civilization: A Brief History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.</p>

<p>Perry, Marvin, et al. Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.</p>

<p>Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.</p>

<p>Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization: A Brief History. Vol. 2, Since 1500. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth.</p>

2

<p>kagans book is phenomenal (used it and got a 5). you have two different types i dont know what the difference between the two is but thats the one i used</p>

3

<p>^ I have to agree with you. I am going to take AP European History this coming year, but I already bought The Western Heritage 9th edition by Kagan and so forth. I started reading it and it is perfect. I mean the wording of the text is simple, easy to understand. I recommend this book and I recommend you to get from Amazon because I got it at $3 with free shipping and it arrived the next day in perfect condition.</p>

4

<p>Yeah. Western Heritage is great. Unfortunately, my class used an outdated version from the late 1990’s. It was still good, but probably wasn’t fully up to date on what the College Board expected its exam takers to know nowadays.</p>

5

<p>Thank you for your feedback. I will get the book. :)</p>

6

<p>Again i’ll have to recommend the Berkeley lectures on European history. It was emensely helpful to me. </p>

<p>I took it this year and got a 5 after watching the videos and reading the whole barrons book.</p>

7

<p>As someone mentioned, there are two versions. Anyone know the difference between these two?</p>

<p>Kagan, Donald, Steven Ozment, and Frank M. Turner. The Western Heritage. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.</p>

<p>Kagan, Donald, Steven Ozment, and Frank M. Turner. The Western Heritage. TLC (brief) edition.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.</p>

<p>I guess the second one is a more refined version, smaller.</p>

8

<p>Oh also another question, the kagan book has numerous editions. What edition or volume did you guys use?</p>

9

<p>^ I have never heard of the versions you mentioned, but if it helps my school is using the 9th edition. It has a golden cover. That is not the latest edition because a 10th edition has been released.</p>

10

<p>KAGAN!!! It’s really thorough.</p>

11

<p>Does anyone have any experience with “The western Experience”?</p>

12

<p>Oh if you go to amazon, it gives you numerous editions and volumes, thats why I asked. But thanks, ill keep the 9th edition in mind.</p>

13

<p>lol strange, a few people reviewed this book negatively claiming it was pretentiously written, utterly boring to read and comprehend as well as that it required a lot of coffee to go through.</p>

14

<p>@blabbermouth I have used The Western Experience as one of the few textbooks I used to self-study European History (the one subject in which I couldn’t find the best textbook for). The Western Experience, in my perspective, is a really informative and has analytical information. Although brief, the information given is still essential. However, till the Revolutions of 1848s or around the era, that is where I found the information disorganized and insubstantial. However, I read through the whole textbook (actually starting from chapter 10 or 11; I do not remember, for I do not have the textbook with me anymore). Nevertheless, The Western Experience is one textbook that I would recommend.</p>

<p>For the Kagan textbook, I have that in my possession. I was hoping to use it as my main textbook when I was self-studying for the AP European History Exam. However, the information is extremely dense, and reading each chapter was time-consuming (one chapter took me 1 hour and a half to read). Moreover, due to the dense amount of information, I find myself at lost reading the textbook, and as a result, I could not remember the information as well as I had with the other two textbooks I read: The Western Experience and A History of Western Society. Moreover, I found myself referencing back and forth between pages or chapters, reminding me of specific events I should know beforehand. I believe this book is well suited for those taking the class rather than for self-studiers.</p>

15

<p>To add, I also own this book Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. Not sure how good it is though, I was reading it today and I liked it but then again, not sure…</p>

16

<p>Our class (or at least it was called a class) used Spielvogel’s textbook. Since our “class” was more like “incompetent teacher rambles on about random topics for 50 minutes,” I found reading the textbook a pain in the ass. Spielvogel wrote the textbook in a manner that (in my opinion) assumes the reader already has some knowledge of the material. However, I didn’t, due to my teacher. The tiny letters don’t make it any easier to read, either.</p>

<p>However, after I did serious reviewing in April, I came back to reading it and found it tolerable and sometimes enjoyable (which is surprising for a person like me that dislikes history). </p>

<p>Anyway, I think Spielvogel’s textbook is a bit user-unfriendly, especially if you don’t have some background on the topics being discussed.</p>

17

<p>Read Palmer cover to cover. It was very detailed but overall it was a pretty good textbook.</p>

18

<p>Hardly read, but when I did I used “The Making of the West: People & Cultures” and the text site.</p>

<p>[Hunt</a> et al., The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, 2e](<a href=“http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/hunt/default.asp?s=&n=&i=&v=&o=&ns=0&uid=0&rau=0]Hunt”>http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/hunt/default.asp?s=&n=&i=&v=&o=&ns=0&uid=0&rau=0)</p>

19

<p>I like Kagan…</p>

<p>Teacher likes Hunt…</p>

<p>School uses McKay…</p>

<p>BE SURE TO GET VIAULT’S Supplement called “Modern European History”</p>

20

<p>Ditto to MEH (Modern European History, awesome acronym). We called it the Euro Bible in our class.</p>