If one really wants to become a student of history, one has to take it a step at a time. I would go back further than just the US and study some World History first just to get a good context about how truly Revolutionary the United States is in its founding governing philosophy. I would study the classical empires: the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Medes, Egyptians, Etruscans, Greeks, Spartans, Jews, Romans, Mongols, Chinese, Goths, and then into the more modern era with the Byzantine Empire, rise of Islam, leading up to the Protestant Reformation and exploration period. Then on into the British Empire, Turks, piracy, and isolation of the Chinese leading up to the Revolutionary War.

That's where US History starts, but the foundational aspects go back centuries - if not millenia.

Ever wonder how the American colonies of England united into a single revolution and 13 states? They didn't have TV or widespread newspapers. This is a question that's been ignore by many history texts, and not merely the rotten AP ones under discussion.

I contend that one source of unification was the rather loud voice of Rev. George Whitefield. He's a research topic for anyone wanting a PhD, assuming one can find a non-Marxist history department somewhere.

My younger daughter just took AP History even though she was just a sophomore in high school. I'm glad she took it this year. The announced changes start taking effect in August. I watched her put about 10 hours per week into learning history, and she knows it quite well now. I won my high school's history award back in the 1980s, and she knows almost as much history as I did then. I am very pleased with the current AP History curriculum. The one major change is not the politicization as Breitbart suggests. The major change is more emphasis on 20th century history. When I took US History in high school, post WW2 history was definitely underemphasized. The other thing that should have been emphasized more was what is now covered by the History Channel in The Men Who Built America.

Regarding a history textbook, go with HW Brands' American Stories. You need both volumes. Just so you know, HW Brands is Glenn Beck's historian of choice, and he is probably the most commonly seen historian on The History Channel.

http://www.amazon.com/American-Stories-H...

I predict a surge in AP gov and AP World history. Who wants to do those APUSH essays anyway? I'll take 4 gov FRQs over an essay any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
I'll get the scoop on it after my peer attends summer training. Have fun!

This is a typical danger of Progressive engenderment of the educational process, the indoctrination of the child. This is why Russia is profoundly broken, because only state approved thinking was permitted for seventy years.

Ref: Rev Whitfield, also include Rev J. Mayhew's sermons. Also, a good series of texts is Peter Marshall's, though it only goes to the Civil War. Murray Rothbard's conceived in Liberty is great too.