5 Steps to a 5: AP European History 2024 - Bartolini-Salimbeni B., Petersen W., Arata K. 2023
Resource Guide
General Websites
Novels
• http://www.abebooks.com/books/features/50-essential-historical-fiction-books.shtml
This site contains brief annotations of novels (primarily); the comments that follow have suggestions of other possibilities.
• http://www.historicalnovels.info
This site is enormous and a tad overwhelming, citing more than 5,000 works. It is broken down by era.
• https://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2012/may/13/ten-best-historical-novels
This site focuses on ten novels. It is annotated.
Art
For general information about art, see the book by John Berger, Ways of Seeing. This is an art history “text,” but it is very short. It will help you with how to analyze and interpret art and how to put it into historical context.
To understand art as propaganda, check out war recruiting and general patriotic posters. See the book by J. Darracott and B. Loftus, First World War Posters.
An alternative would be to search the Web for “propaganda WWI posters” and “propaganda WWII posters.”
• http://arthistoryresources.net/ARTHLinks.html
The most complete site available, produced by Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe.
• https://smarthistoryblog.org
This amazing site offers evaluations of artworks. It has a YouTube channel as well. It is best used to search for specific works, artists, and eras.
Movies
• https://europeisnotdead.com/video/movies-of-europe/european-historical-movies/
The focus is on twentieth-century Europe and its wars.
Music
There are two sites that start with the Billy Joel song “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” They flash names and events across the screen. They are useful for finding out what you need to know.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swt1Vc0Lc00
This covers the years 1949—1989. Some things are out of chronological order, but this is useful nonetheless.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c24kzS-UX3k
This covers the years 2000—2009. It’s a little heavy on U.S. history but is still useful.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY
This is a piece on information technology.