AP Summer Assignment 2023-2024
Due---Friday, September 15, 2023
Required Summer Reading – A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage.
A History of the World in 6 Glasses is a book that takes an innovative approach to world history.
Tom Standage looks at the development of world civilizations by examining the beverages that
people drank in various time periods. These are: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola.
Each drink is a kind of technology, a catalyst for advancing culture—demonstrates intricate
interplay of different cultures. Remember-- Trade is the Conduit of Culture.
Pre-Reading Assignment – Before reading the book, answer the following questions in
complete sentences.
1. What is your definition of world history?
2. What interests you about studying world history? What does not?
3. For each time period below try to list 5-10 events or developments in each time period.
These can be things you have studied in other classes, read about, seen a history channel
program on, etc. Don’t worry about them being right or wrong. Make your list from
YOUR prior knowledge rather than looking them up. You do not have to answer in
complete sentences for this question.
o 8000 BCE to 600 CE
o 600 to 1450 CE
o 1450 to 1750 CE
o 1750 to 1900 CE
o 1900 to present
Reading Assignment – The concept of AP World History is to focus on the big ideas, concepts,
themes, and trends of history. Instead of focusing on every minor event and occurrence, we will
focus on the big ideas that have shaped world history and our world today. As you read 6
Glasses, consider how each of the beverages were linked to the larger historical trends and
processes that were occurring. For each section, answer the questions listed below. Please label
the section and number the questions. You do not need to rewrite the question. Your answers
should be in complete sentences/thoughts. Do not use quotes – at all – for any reason. Some
questions ask you to list points – these may be bulleted. Answers should be in paragraph form –
at least 4 sentences per question.
Beer
1. How is the discovery of beer linked to the growth of the first “civilizations”?
2. What does this history of beer in the ancient world tells us about the early civilizations? How
might beer have influenced the transition from hunting and gathering to agricultural-based
societies?
3. What sources does the author use to gather his information on the use of beer?
4. What were some of the uses of beer by ancient cultures? Nourishment? Ritual? Religious?
5. How did beer “civilize” man, according to Standage?
6. What is the relationship between beer and writing, commerce and health?
Wine
1. How did the use of wine differ from that of beer in ancient Greece and Rome?
2. How was wine used by the Greeks?
3. How and why did wine develop into a form of a status symbol in Greece?
4. How was wine consumed? What does this tell us about ancient Greek culture? What
opportunities associated with wine drinking did men have in ancient Greece that women did not?
5. How did the use of wine in Roman culture differ from that of ancient Greece?
6. What is the relationship between wine and empire, medicine, and religion?
7. Why was wine adopted as a ritual drink in Christianity, but Islam prohibited the use of
alcohol?
Spirits
1. What is the origin of distilled spirits?
2. What is the connection between spirits and colonization?
3. How was the production of spirits connected to slavery?
4. What role did spirits play on the high seas?
5. Why were spirits an important staple in Colonial America?
6. How did run play a role in the American Revolution?
Coffee
1. What is the origin of coffee?
2. Why were there many opponents to coffee in Europe and the Middle East? Do you think they
had legitimate arguments against coffee?
3. What were the arguments for drinking coffee? What beneficial qualities were attributed to
coffee?
4. How did coffee help build empires? What different regions of the world were connected
through the coffee trade? What role did each region have in the trade?
5. What important functions did coffeehouses serve in the 1600s and 1700s? Do you agree or
disagree with the comparison to the internet? Why/why not?
6. How did coffee and coffeehouses impact scientific, philosophical, business, and political
thought?
7. Compare and contrast French and English coffeehouses. What key similarities and differences
did you note?
8. How did coffee affect the balance of power between various regions around the world?
Tea
1. When/Why did tea first become a mainstream drink in Asia? In Europe?
2. How did the consumption of tea in Europe differ from how it was consumed in China or
Japan?
3. If tea arrived in Europe around the same time as when coffee did, why did it not find the
immediate success that coffee had?
4. How did tea transform English society? Who were its main consumers and what were some of
the new rituals that surrounded tea?
5. How was tea an integral part of the Industrial Revolution?
6. What was the connection between tea and politics?
7. How was tea connected to the opium trade and the Opium War of 1839 – 1842?
8. What role did the tea trade and production play in the British rule over India?
Coca-Cola
1. What was the origin of coke?
2. How was this beverage used medicinally and what were the additives?
3. What was the relationship between coke and World War II?
4. How was coke thought of by the communists during the Cold War?
5. What is meant by “globalization in a bottle”?
6. How does coca-cola affect and how is it affected by people’s views of the United States?
Post-reading Assignment
After reading the book, answer the following questions in detail. One sentence is not enough.
1. One criticism of the book is that Standage focuses too much on Europe and not other parts of
the world. Do you agree or disagree? Which parts of the world do not receive much attention in
this book?
2. Do you think Standage adequately addresses the dangers of alcohol in this book? Should he
put more emphasis on the negative consequences of drinking the beverages he discusses?
3. Standage concludes the book by asking whether water will be the next drink whose story will
need to be told. What evidence does he use to support this? Do you agree or disagree with him?
Why/why not? What other beverage do you think would represent this part of history?
4. What do you think of Standage’s approach to history? Is this a useful way to think about
history? What other approaches might one take?
5. Did you like this book? Why/why not? Would you recommend this book to other people
studying world history? Why/why not?
