A. The novel covers an eventful period in American history and many of the characters are touched by national and international events. The issue of slavery split the country, and between 1861 and 1865 the northern and southern states were engaged in a bloody civil war. After the war ended, the country recovered and there was a period of rapid economic growth. Settlers moved west to build new farms and adopted new mechanical methods of farming. The railroads expanded and opened up new production areas and markets. The United States soon became the world’s leading agricultural producer.

B. From the landing at Plymouth Rock to today, educators and community members have debated over the best way that government should fulfill its responsibility to educate citizens. Underlying these debates are three central questions: What is the purpose of a public education? Who is to receive the educational services provided by the public? And, how does government ensure the quality of these educational services? In various forms, these questions lay beneath all educational changes and reform measures in American history.

C. In Europe during the Middle Ages and much of the Early Modern period, the main purpose of schools (as opposed to universities) was to teach the Latin language. This led to the term grammar school, which in the United States informally refers to a primary school, but in the United Kingdom means a school that selects entrants based on ability or aptitude. Following this, the school curriculum has gradually broadened to include literacy in the vernacular language as well as technical, artistic, scientific and practical subjects.

D. A large number of people depend directly or indirectly on the tobacco business. Small shops receive a large part of their income from the sale of cigarettes, and may be forced to close if cigarettes are made illegal. There are also many others who depend on this market. Tobacco is largely grown in warm countries, with undeveloped economies. A complete ban on cigarettes would force farmers to change the crops that they grow, and this is not something that can be carried out quickly. Poor farmers may not be able to feed their families without the income from tobacco.

E. The number of people suffering from respiratory illness in the countryside was significantly lower in the past than it is today. This supported by Michael J. Brown’s empirical research and by the statistics collected by the Bureau of Information over a 50-year period. It is, however, impossible to identify a direct relation of cause and effect between the increased use of pesticides and the rise in the number of breathing problems, as so many other factors in people’s lifestyle have also changed.

F. The coffee served in the coffee houses wasn’t necessarily very good coffee. Because of the way coffee was taxed in Britain, the practice was to brew it in large batches, store it cold in barrels and reheat it a little at a time for serving. So coffee’s appeal in Britain was less to do with its being a quality beverage than a social lubricant. People went to coffee houses to meet people of shared interests, to gossip, read the latest journals and newspapers – a brand-new word and concept in the 1660s – and exchange information of value to their lives and business.

G. Christianity was always curiously ill at ease with cleanliness, and early on developed an odd tradition of equating holiness with dirtiness. When St. Thomas a Becket died in 1170, those who laid him out noted approvingly that his undergarments were ‘seething with lice’. Throughout the medieval period, an almost sure-fire way to earn lasting honour was to take a vow not to wash. Many people walked from England to the Holy Land, but when a monk named Godric did it without getting wet even once he became, all but inevitably, St. Godric.