<p>Between Garraty and Bailey, which text is more suitable for a little of of summer AP U.S. History pre-class study?</p>
<p>I fear that in class we may not be able to cover the required exam material.</p>
<p>OMG DEFINITELY THE AMERICAN PAGEANT. Bailey helps right the AP exams, as our history teacher said. Also, I remember almost all the questions had exact wordings from the American Pageant book, I don't believe I can discuss much more about the MC Section of the exam too much but in all actuality GO WITH american pageant.</p>
<p>American Pageant is just as informative, but much much easier to read through because the reading is not dry as hell like American Nation.</p>
<p>Garraty is the ****ing man. Anyone who says he's dry must not be interested in history.</p>
<p>Garraty gives in-depth analysis moreso than the other books; I've found them to be more like overviews. Garraty will give you an example of a trend, will cite another historian's analysis, reference a report, quote someone of the era, when Brinkley (American History: A Survey) and other historians will give their reader a blanket statement. </p>
<p>The only downside to Garraty is that he doesn't focus on social issues as much as some of the other writers do, and the AP exam now places more emphasis on social issues.</p>
<p>I personally think American Pageant (Bailey) is the most boring, randomly laid-out book ever, but I haven't seen the American Nation (Garraty), although a lot of the stuff on the AP test seemed almost word-for-word. So maybe look at Garraty to see if its set up in a more organized way, but American Pageant has the info you need.</p>
<p>umm, how about just prep REA before the test - don't waste your summer since even to get a 5 you are not expected to know all aplicable material</p>
<p>haha BAILEY!!! he always puts in little jokes and random facts too.. that might make the reading a little funner.. (not that it wasnt fun to begin with.....-_-)</p>
<p>okay im biased. never read garraty before.</p>
<p>I've never read The American Nation, but I really liked The American Pageant. I thought the way it was laid-out (within each chapter) made it really easy to read, and everything you need to know for the AP exam is definitely covered.</p>
<p>AMSCO
get it. read it. learn it.
text books suck</p>
<p>I can't testify for Pageant, but Nation is very thorough; but if you're independently doing it, I would go with Pageant--I hear it's an easier read.</p>
<p>
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umm, how about just prep REA before the test - don't waste your summer since even to get a 5 you are not expected to know all aplicable material
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<p>I agree... REA all the way. I used Pageant in class; the best thing about it, in my opinion, is the pictures. A lot of the art and cartoons in the book were on the practice exams we did in class, so as part of my review I went back and looked at pictures and captions.</p>
<p>I don't have any experience, though, with the other text so I can't really compare.</p>
<p>REA is really good. I hated The American Pageant with such a strong passion. In fact, when my teacher asked us to fill out this questionairre thing about the class, I put the reading as my least favorite part, while most put the essays. The essays aren't bad though if you know the info. But I could read REA in 2 days, so yeah, my .02034 cents. I didn't read The American Nation but I heard there's even more random info in that than the Pageant. </p>
<p>Unfortunately I attempted to read the book (pageant) and wasted an incredible amount of time. Learn the info in class, and read REA and/or AMSCO for the self reading and you'll be a okay. REA isn't difficult to read at all.</p>
<p>Also, somebody said that American Pageant was easy to read but I thought it was a little too flowery for a history text at times. I still remember cracking up when I read about the colonials "tickling the earth with a hoe" and it "laughing with a harvest". I mean, come on!!</p>
<p>i've really enjoyed American Pageant. It was like an old friend whom i talked with every night...</p>
<p>god i'm a nerd</p>
<p>yeah, "Nation" has tons of random info. It's great for history class, but maybe not as great if all you want is to ace the AP.</p>
<p>I used American Pageant, and have an old copy of American Nation. American Nation certainly seems to be more historically advanced than American Pageant, as I found Pageant to be often biased.</p>