Natick’s official APUSH website defines the class as “the hardest class you will ever love,” and the quote for me would be true on all accounts if I did not take AP Physics my freshman year (I think the most difficult part of APUSH is actually remembering my homework, but that’s a different story). AP US History, also known as APUSH, demands students to have a comprehensive understanding of the history of America between 1492 and modern day. From pre-colonial America to 9/11, the curriculum leaves students wondering if they should review five hundred years of history for their exam or call it a day. Rather than filling out a study guide or watching Heimler’s History at double speed, I opted to read the entirety of the actual APUSH textbook prior to my AP Exam, which is exactly a week from the day I am writing this. Instead of studying further for my exam, I have decided to offer my take on the textbook.

For starters, the formatting of the book was fantastic and made me feel far more capable than I actually am. AMSCO is thick and juicy at first glance, but it’s shockingly manageable considering the level of content covered. The 30th chapter closes at exactly 700 pages, which is reasonable (to me) over the course of the five days prior to my practice exam. I also could feel great about reading fast without actually reading 700 pages of American history. At the end of each chapter, there are multiple pages dedicated to key terms, a practice set of multiple choice, and a practice set of short-answer questions, a type of free-response seen on the actual AP test. It’s plausible that the extra content accounted for 100 to 200 pages, making the textbook even more of a realistic task to cover from my Sunday to Wednesday. 

The fact that each chapter includes practice questions is also a major plus. Rather than only including a mixed set of practice questions at the end to simulate a full-length exam, each chapter includes eight multiple-choice and four short-answer questions. Not only is the textbook a reasonable length, but it provides brief check-ins per chapter to not only allow you to review, but will strengthen your comfort with the content of each chapter. Along with that, the textbook is broken up into ten time periods. At the end of each period, a document-based question and a long-essay question are included, which are more free response questions you’ll see on the exam. Again, these ensure that I am not only reading the content but am able to apply it in a context that requires deeper thinking and analysis.

Also, the fact that AMSCO actually held my attention for the several hours I spent reading is truly an accomplishment. After all, I literally carved out time to read a school textbook. While this is likely just due to the nature of American history, the content did not disappoint. Honorable mentions include the Brooks-Sumner Incident, where a man was hit on the head with a cane over a congressional dispute in the 1800s. Americans also never seemed to learn for a long period of time, as they kept running into financial panics after constant overspeculation. 

What I really think the world should know about American history that was included was the Mad Bomber Theory. Former President Nixon is best known for his scandalous Watergate, but what you may not know is that he convinced the Communist Bloc nations that he was crazy so that they would be far too terrified to launch missiles or make any attacks. This is truly what we need to be learning as opposed to traditional school history. Who doesn’t feel enlightened after learning about the Mad Bomber Theory?

I’ve spent a lot of time raving about the textbook, so you may be curious as to why I am not rating AMSCO a full five stars. For me, a five star review requires going above and beyond. While the textbook was both engaging and easily comprehensible, it did not offer anything extra. Yes, the practice exam content was a plus, but it is, after all, a textbook for an AP Exam. They could have earned that extra half star by including the presidential power rankings, or better yet, ranking the presidents on a completely arbitrary category.