Students taking AP World History in the fall must complete the following summer reading assignment: A History of the World In Six Glasses by Tom Standage. The students will be tested on the content of this book during the first week of school. Below you will find an optional written assignment that students may complete while reading the text. Students with handwritten responses to ALL of the questions may use them on the test over A History of the World In Six Glasses. Notes: 1) No typed notes or responses to questions will be allowed on the Six Glasses test.

2) No partially completed handwritten assignments will be allowed on the test…only handwritten, fully completed responses to the entire written assignment will be allowed.

Optional (yet recommended) course materials include: AP World History flash cards, Crash Course AP World History by Jay Harmon, and/or AP World History by AMSCO. Questions? Email andersonlb@fultonschools.org or omen@fultonschools.org

A History of the World in 6 Glasses

I. A Stone Age Brew

A. Where is The Fertile Crescent?

B. Where is Mesopotamia?

C. Why did the domestication of animals and grains occur first in Mesopotamia?

D. What is beer? How was it discovered and first made? When was it discovered?

E. How are beer and bread related?

F. How might beer have influenced the transition from nomadic

hunting/gathering to agricultural societies with permanent settlements?

II. Civilized Beer

A. What made civilization in both Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia possible?

B. In Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, what role did beer play in terms of:

1. Religion?

2. Language?

3. Currency/Money?

III. The Delight of Wine

A. What is wine? How was it discovered and first made? When was it discovered?

B. How did wine initially separate the classes in Mesopotamia?

C. What two factors increased the use of wine in the Near East and Eastern

Mediterranean?

D. Why is Greece considered to be the, “the Cradle of Western Thought”?

E. What role did wine in Ancient Greece play in:

1. Determining wealth?

2. Separating the classes?

3. The Symposium and the intellectual development that came with it?

IV. The Imperial Vine

A. Why did the Romans imitate Greek culture?

B. How did wine bridge Greek and Roman values?

C. How did wine production in the Roman Empire create a new farming system

and give rise to larger cities?

D. How did wine increase trade in the Roman Empire?

E. How did wine separate the classes in the Roman Empire?

F. What are sumptuary laws?

G. How did wine encourage early medicine in Rome?

H. After the Roman Empire was defeated by German barbarians, how did

Christianity preserve the custom of wine-drinking?

I. What are two reasons why Islam ended the consumption of wine?

J. In the modern day, why is more wine drunk in Southern Europe than Northern

Europe? Why is more beer drunk in Northern Europe?

V. High Spirits, High Seas

A. What is the origin of distilled spirits? Which culture refined and popularized

the technique used to create distilled spirits? What is the origin of the word

“alcohol”?

B. Why did people originally believe that distilled wine had healing powers?

What supposedly did distilled spirits heal or treat?

C. Why did the use of distilled wine (or “aqua vitae”) spread so rapidly through

Europe during the 1400’s? What did the English call aqua vitae?

D. What is the connection between spirits, especially brandy, and the

colonization of the Americas? How did brandy encourage the slave trade during the

1500’s and 1600’s?

E. What is rum? How was it first created?

F. What was the impact of rum on slavery?

G. What was grog? How was it first created? What was its impact on the British

navy? How did it make the British navy stronger than the French navy?

VI. The Drinks That Built America

A. What mistake did the British make when they first decided to colonize

Virginia?

B. What was the impact of beer on the first three colonies founded by the British

in North America?

C. Why did rum replace beer and brandy as the favorite drink of America?

D. How did rum lead to revolution and rebellion in the Americas?

E. As settlers moved westward in America, why did they switch from rum to

whiskey?

F. How did whiskey lead to a showdown between settlers and the federal

government of the young United States? Who won?

G. How did distilled spirits help Europeans colonize the Americas?

VII. The Great Soberer

A. How did the introduction of coffee into Europe during the 17th Century impact

the quality of work of the Europeans?

B. What is coffee? Who first used coffee as a drink? Which culture first

popularized coffee?

C. Why was coffee called the “wine of Islam”?

D. How did London coffeehouses impact the politics and business of 17th Century

England?

E. What medicinal impact was coffee supposed to have?

F. Where did the cultivation of coffee trees spread to during the early 18th

Century?

VIII. The Coffeehouse Internet

A. In what ways were coffeehouses in 18th Century Europe, especially London,

similar to today’s internet? Each particular type of coffeehouse was similar to what

on the internet?

B. How did coffee and coffeehouses play a pivotal role in the scientific revolution

of the 18th Century?

C. How did coffee and coffeehouses play a pivotal role in the financial revolution

of the 18th Century?

D. What was the Enlightenment? How did coffee and coffeehouses play a role in

the Enlightenment and the French Revolution?

IX. Empires of Tea

A. What is tea? Where was its place of origin? How was it originally prepared?

B. How did tea probably spread to China? When did it become the national

beverage of China?

C. How did tea aid in the population surge that occurred in China during the

Tang Dynasty?

D. How did tea impact the economic prosperity of China during the same period?

E. In what ways did tea become a symbol of status and sophistication in China?

F. Why did the consumption of tea drop during Mongol rule?

G. When did tea become first popular in Japan? Why?

H. In what way did tea become the pinnacle of culture and status in Japan?

I. When and how did tea first reach Europe?

J. What is the difference between green tea and black tea? Which type became

common in Europe and why?

K. Although tea reached Europe earlier than coffee, why did it not originally

become as popular? For what purposes was it originally used in Europe?

L. Why did Europeans originally begin to add milk to tea?

M. When did tea first become fashionable to drink in England? Why?

N. How did tea transform English society? Who were its main consumers and

what were some of the new rituals that surrounded tea?

O. What made tea popular with the lower classes in England?

X. Tea Power

A. How was tea an integral part of the Industrial Revolution? Explain at least

three ways it aided in industrialization.

B. How did tea impact American independence?

C. How was tea connected to the opium trade in China and the Opium War of

1839-1842?

D. What role did the tea trade and production play in British rule over India?

E. Why did Americans change from tea drinkers to coffee drinkers in the 19th

Century?

XI. From Soda to Cola

A. Who invented Coca-Cola? What ingredients and technologies came together to

produce it?

B. What happened in 1886 in Atlanta that led to the creation of Coca-Cola?

C. How did Asa Candler corner the market on Coca-Cola? What did he do to

increase its popularity?

D. What happened to Coca-Cola in the 1930’s?

XII. Globalization in a Bottle

A. What was the relationship of Coke and World War II? What had happened to

Coke by the end of the war?

B. How was Coke thought of by Communists during the Cold War? Ultimately how

did this image help Coke?

C. How has Coca-Cola’s close association with American values hurt it in the

Middle East?

D. How is Coca-Cola a symbol for globalization?

XIII. Epilogue

A. Why does the author think that water will be next most important drink?

Explain at least three reasons.