Project 1: Summer Reading Assignment: In preparation for your upcoming Advanced Placement course in Government and Politics, you will be required to read the following books and respond to essay-type questions (see attached assignment).
Irons, Peter The Courage of Their Convictions:
Sixteen Americans Who Fought
Their Way to the Supreme Court
(Penguin Books, c. 1990)
Matthews, Christopher Hardball
How Politics is Played-Told by
One Who Knows the Game
(Harper and Row, c. 1989)
George Orwell 1984
Fictional utopian society of a
totalitarian dictatorship.
Hedrick Smith The New Russians
A journalist writes about the history, culture, and changes in
Soviet/Russians society from Stalin to Gorbachev.
While there are other current books available that deal with topics pertinent to our course, these three have been selected for you based on the high interest level and breadth of information. You are asked to read them and respond to the questions in order to be better prepared for your Government class. The written assignment for 1984 will be due the first day of class in September. The other two assignments will be due the day before Christmas vacation.
It is also highly recommended that you follow current events this summer via The Washington Post, and/or The New York Times, and/or The Economist. We will often apply current topics to political science concepts. While you do not have to subscribe to these magazines, please keep current on events happening in the world over the summer.
The assigned books are available by special
order at the major bookstores in this area ( Borders, Waldenbooks,
Barnes and Noble, etc.). University and public libraries may also
have them. You may share copies of the books, although it is suggested
you have your own.
A.P. GOVERNMENT
SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT
Directions: Read the three books assigned-Hardball by Christopher Matthews, The Courage of Their Convictions by Peter Irons and 1984 by George Orwell-beginning with the preface. Highlight or take notes as you read. Answer each of the following essay questions. Be sure to address all parts of the question and use specific information whenever possible. Your work will be evaluated mostly on content, but style is also important, so do pay attention to how you write as well as what you write.
Your essays should be approximately five hundred words in length (longer, if you like). Typed work is preferred, but neatly written answers on lined paper (one side) are acceptable.
The third and fourth assignment is due on the first day of class in September. The other two assignments are second semester.
1. Assume you are a Special Advisor to the President and have been asked to prepare recommendations for President Clinton to solidify support for his programs during the second half of his second term. Using two current issues, with an eye towards keeping the White House in Democratic hands, suggest how the Clinton Administration might use some of Christopher Matthews' political "tips" to best deal with different constituencies, i.e., Congress, the press, the public, influential interest groups, and international players. Address the current issues specifically in your paper to the President.
2. Read the following case studies from among those presented in Peter Irons' The Courage of Their Convictions: #1, Lillian Gobitis v. Minersville School District (1940), #3, J.D. Shelley v. Louis Kraemer (1948), #10, Mary Beth Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), and #16, Michael Hardwick, v. Michael Bowers (1986). In addition, read at least four other case studies of your own choosing.
Using numerous examples from the case studies,
explain what you have learned about:
(a) people
(b) courage and convictions
(c) the U.S. legal system, including the Supreme Court
(d) the U.S. Constitution.
Note: You may write in the first person in Question #1, but not in Question #2.
3. "We control life, Winston, at all its levels. You are imagining that there is something called human nature which will be outraged by what we do and will turn against us. But we create human nature. Men are infinitely malleable.....Humanity is the Party." George Orwell
The above quote is from the novel 1984 by George Orwell. Using this quote analyze the actions of Big Brother and write an essay explaining the role of government in controlling the populace. You might want to include the use of propaganda, technology, double speak, the thought police, the Party and room 101.
4. Read the first three parts of The New Russians. Then answer the following question: It is Jeffrey Taylor's thesis that "Russia is finished." He feels that reform is not truly possible and that the attempts at reform have only accelerated the degeneration and socio-cultural collapse of Russian society. Having read the problems facing Russia at the outset of their attempts at reforms, were they doomed from the beginning, or could they have done something differently to reform their society and create a new democratic Russia? Support your answer.