Don›t Know Much About

Did You Know?

Blue moons are quite predictable and generally occur every three years.
Don't Know Much About The Universe (p.120)

The Black Sea gets its name from its stormy character and not from any particular color scheme.
Don't Know Much About Geography (p.169)

Texas' 1873 petition for annexation was denied by the U.S. in an effort to avoid the issue of slavery there.
Don't Know Much About The Civil War (p.83)

The world's highest temperature was 136.4 degrees F (58 degrees C) recorded in Al'Aziziya, Libya.
Don't Know Much About Geography (p.280)

Private detective Allan Pinkerton was an advisor to President Lincoln and also aided in the Underground Railroad.
Don't Know Much About The Civil War (p.159)

The Big Dipper is an asterism within the constellation Ursa Major, the Big Bear.
Don't Know Much About The Universe (p.26)

The principality of Monaco is about the size of New York City's Central Park.
Don't Know Much About Geography (p.134)

Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Hall, the site of anti-slavery meetings, was burned to the ground in 1837.
Don't Know Much About The Civil War (p.84)

Under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI tried to prove that Martin Luther King was a Communist.
Don't Know Much About History (p.461)

Pluto is so small that it was long believed to be an escaped moon that orbited Neptune.
(p.151)

Continuous winds blow across the Martian surface at 125 m.p.h.
Don't Know Much About The Universe (p.127)

Samuel Langhorn Clemens (Mark Twain) served with a band of Missouri Volunteers.
Don't Know Much About The Civil War (p.437)

England's Stonehenge was erected in the Bronze Age to chart the Sun, Moon, and planets.
Don't Know Much About The Universe (p.36)

The Sun is 400x larger than the Moon, but the Moon is 400x closer to Earth, so they appear the same size.
Don't Know Much About The Universe (p.101)

The Earth does not spin perfectly but wobbles a bit, like a top that is starting to slow down.
Don't Know Much About The Universe (p.115)

Transylvania is a region located in central and northwestern Romania.
Don't Know Much About Geography (p.254)

In 2001, a supercluster of galaxies was found, believed to be the largest known object in the universe.
Don't Know Much About The Universe (p.199)

Union banks held 81% of the nation's bank deposits and $56 million in gold.
Don't Know Much About The Civil War (p.151)

People in South America blamed a devastating 1918 outbreak of influenza on a solar eclipse.
Don't Know Much About The Universe (p.102)

The Apostle Paul is first introduced in the book of Acts as Saul, and he later changed his name.
Don't Know Much About The Bible (p.426)

Arthur MacArthur Jr. was awarded the Medal of Honor, as was his son Douglas during World War II.
Don't Know Much About The Civil War (p.444)

The universe is between 13 and 20 billion years old.
Don't Know Much About The Universe (p.7)

General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865.
Don't Know Much About The Civil War (p.3)

The Badlands regions in South Dakota were once flatland beneath an ancient inland sea.
Don't Know Much About Geography (p.147)

Mars has two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, that race around the planet.
Don't Know Much About The Universe (p.127)

Vatican City, located within Rome, Italy, is the world's smallest nation.
Don't Know Much About Geography (p.135)

The temperature on the surface of the Sun is about 10,000ºF (5,500ºC).
Don't Know Much About The Universe (p.96)

Explorer Henry Hudson's crew mutinied in 1611 and left him in an open boat in Hudson Bay.
Don't Know Much About History (p.22)

Louisa May Alcott served as a Union nurse and later published a collection of wartime letters, Hospital Sketches.
Don't Know Much About The Civil War (p.434)

The efficiency of the assembly line cut the price tag on the Model T from $950 to $350.
(p.338)

After the Revolutionary War, national foreign debt was estimated at $11,710,379.
Don't Know Much About History (p.103)

Harriet Tubman helped more than 300 slaves escape to freedom through the Underground Railroad.
Don't Know Much About The Civil War (p.96)

Pandora's box wasn't a box at all, it was a covered jar.
Don't Know Much About Mythology (p.218)

The Marquis de Lafayette came to America to volunteer his services during the Revolutionary War.
Don't Know Much About History (p.73)

Under perfect weather conditions, a person with good eyesight can detect about 3,000 stars.
Don't Know Much About The Universe (p.41)

Robert E. Lee's petition for restoration of citizenship disappeared and was not found until 1975.
Don't Know Much About The Civil War (p.443)

The Brooklyn Bridge was opened to traffic in 1883.
Don't Know Much About Geography (p.194)

Handel's Messiah draws heavily upon the book of Isaiah.
Don't Know Much About The Bible (p.224)

The village of Jericho is located 825 feet below sea level.
Don't Know Much About Geography (p.204)

In 1915, the German Embassy published newspaper ads warning Americans not to sail on British ships in the Atlantic.
Don't Know Much About History (p.306)

As a defense against Indians, the Dutch erected a wall in lower Manhattan from which Wall Street gets its name.
Don't Know Much About History (p.38)

German subs destroyed nearly 4.5 million tons of Allied ships in the first two months of 1940.
Don't Know Much About History (p.370)

Atlantic Monthly paid Julia Ward Howe $5 for the poem that would become "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
Don't Know Much About The Civil War (p.212)

The first English sundial was built in Newcastle in 675 A.D.
Don't Know Much About The Universe (p.43)

The world's first motel, the Milestone, opened in Monterey, California, in 1925.
Don't Know Much About Geography (p.220)

The linking of East and West by rail was completed on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Point, Utah.
Don't Know Much About History (p.265)

English priest William Tyndale was executed for attempting to translate the Bible into English.
Don't Know Much About The Bible (p.xxii)

America entered World War I in April 1917 when it was already in its closing stages.
Don't Know Much About History (p.307)

Six Union officers went on to hold the office of President.
Don't Know Much About The Civil War (p.441)

The first Continental Congress was made up of 56 delegates from every colony except Georgia.
Don't Know Much About History (p.69)