What is AP World History: An Essential Coursebook? The Coursebook is more concise than most AP World History textbooks. The Coursebook is more comprehensive than most AP review books. The Coursebook thoroughly covers the topics from the AP World History curriculum, yet its clear concise style helps students to see and understand underlying world history themes without getting lost in a myriad of facts. The Coursebook includes narratives for all five time periods of the course, multiple-choice and free-response questions for each period, and a complete sample examination.