#barron's

First it was:

It’s not like "I’m going to ride some nondescript coaster somewhere, that maybe is [themed like] India or whatever."

Then it was:

“it’s not like “I’m going to ride some nondescript coaster somewhere.”

Now, it’s:

It’s not like, "Well, I’m going to ride some nondescript named coaster somewhere that maybe is like, maybe is in India or whatever.

Along with the difference of the coaster being “in India” rather than “[themed like] India,” it’s also now referring to a “nondescript named coaster” and not a “nondescript coaster.”

Either there’s some heavy retconning going on, or that author’s article owes Bob a HUGE apology for setting off this firestorm with a lousy editing job that completely changed the inference.

Also, when the article was edited the first time, there was no acknowledgement of the edit. Now both edits are acknowledged at the end of the article:

Since it’s summer in the US, I’m assuming that you’re looking for a book to prepare you for AP Euro next year. Based on this, I would suggest Barron’s.

So a general rule to remember is that Barron’s will teach you the subject and Princeton will prepare you for the exam. Meaning that if you do/will have quality instruction in a subject, you would use Princeton’s because it’ll review the most important concepts for the AP and you can rely on the background you gained in class for the more obscure questions. However, if you’re building your knowledge from the ground up without anyone actually teaching you, to actually get the most out of a book I would recommend Barron’s. 

Of course there are pros and cons: when you actually start school, Princeton might be easier to use for tests and quizzes. Barron’s can also give sometimes too much information that’ll give you undue stress when you’re doing last minute review for the AP and you can’t remember why Zwingli was important. To top it off, both books do actually prepare you for the exam and they both do a great job of it.

If you’re worried about the cost, you can buy AP books from last year and have the same information/review tests/charts. The test was most recently changed in 2016 so a 2016 or 2017 book will do just as well as a 2018 book at a fraction of the price, so if you really wanted you could buy two. 

Full disclosure though, I took the 2016 exam with a 2014 Barron’s book of which I only used about four chapters because a) I relied on other sources, b) my teacher taught well, and c) my teacher didn’t give tests (just essays). The biggest plus to even getting an AP book is that it organizes the information nicely (the tables and charts are amazingly helpful) and synthesizes the more important points (Princeton more AP focused, Barron’s slightly more depth).