The ability to read and think critically is an important skill for students to learn. World Book’s Behind the Headlines feature can not only help students learn about newsworthy events but can also help them learn to read and think critically. The below link provides questions and activities that students can use after reading one of World Book’s Behind the Headlines article. While not all questions and activities will apply to every Behind the Headlines article, you should be able to find some questions and activities to engage your students.

Behind the Headlines Lesson Plan

Current Event: JFK 100

May 29^th marked the 100^th birthday of former President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy served as the 35^th president of the United States from 1961 until his death in 1963. Many Americans saw Kennedy’s election and brief time in office—often idealized as “Camelot”—as an inspiring national renewal. Kennedy, a Democrat, won the 1960 presidential election with his “New Frontier” program after a series of television debates with then-Vice President Richard M. Nixon, his Republican opponent. At 43, JFK was the youngest man ever elected president. Kennedy won world respect as the leader of the Free World. In 1961, he created the Peace Corps, a volunteer organization that sent Americans abroad to help people in developing nations raise their standards of living. In 1962, JFK helped avert nuclear war with the Soviet Union during the Cuban missile crisis. The near-but-avoided calamity began a period of “thaw” in the Cold War as relations grew friendlier between the United States and Soviet Union. On the home front, the United States prospered under JFK. The economy steadily improved; African Americans made great progress in their quest for equal rights; and the United States made its first piloted space flights and prepared to send astronauts to the moon. On Nov. 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated while travelling in a motorcade through the streets of Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, served from 1961 to 1963. He was born 100 years ago this week on May 29, 1917. Credit: © Pictorial Press/Alamy Images

Objective:

The president of the United States is often considered the most powerful elected official in the world. The Constitution of the United States gives the president enormous power. However, it also limits that power. The authors of the Constitution wanted a strong leader as president, but they did not want an all-powerful king. As a result, they divided the powers of the United States government among three branches—executive, legislative, and judicial. The president, who is often called the chief executive, heads the executive branch. The president has many roles and performs many duties. As chief executive, the president makes sure that federal laws are enforced. As commander in chief of the nation’s armed forces, the president is responsible for national defense. As foreign policy director, the president determines United States relations with other nations. As legislative leader, the president recommends laws and works to win their passage. As head of a political party, the president helps mold the party’s positions on national and foreign issues. As popular leader, the president tries to inspire the people of the United States to work together to meet the nation’s goals. Finally, as chief of state, the president performs a variety of ceremonial duties. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore all of the presidents in U.S. history.

Words to know:

• Cold War
• Cuban missile crisis
• Government of the United States
• John Fitzgerald Kennedy
• Peace Corps
• President of the United States
• Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.)

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students to name some famous U.S. presidents other than John F. Kennedy. (Students might say George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Donald Trump, George Washington, Woodrow Wilson.)

2. Ask your students to name people other than John F. Kennedy who were assassinated. (Students might say Benazir Bhutto; Julius Caesar; Franz Ferdinand; Mohandas Gandhi; James Garfield; Robert F. Kennedy; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Abraham Lincoln; William McKinley; Yitzhak Rabin; Anwar el-Sadat.)

3. Ask your students, “If you were to choose the greatest political leader from your country, who would you choose and why?”

4. Ask your students if they would want to be the political leader of their country. What would be some of the benefits and drawbacks of being the head of their country?

5. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the John Kennedy timeline. (Students may wish to use World Book’s “John Fitzgerald Kennedy” article for help.)

Current Event: Glacier Bay Losing its Glaciers

Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana may soon be without any of its trademark glaciers. Many of the park’s largest glaciers have lost much of their former size in the last 50 years. Glacier National Park had about 150 glaciers in 1850. Over the past 50 years, scientists used digital maps from aerial photography and satellites to measure the glaciers in late summer when seasonal snow has melted to reveal the boundaries of the glacial ice. Since the first survey in 1966, the glaciers have shrunk by an average of 39 percent. Today, the park has just 26 ice masses large enough to qualify as glaciers. Scientists blame this dramatic glacier melt on global warming, and they predict Glacier National Park will be without any glaciers at all by 2030. This is troubling news for the state of Montana, where more than 2 million tourists take in the scenic views at Glacier National Park each year. Experts worry that the glacier loss will also have serious damaging effects on the ecosystems of the park and surrounding Rocky Mountain habitats.

Click to view larger image
The retreat of a mountain glacier can provide visible evidence of global warming. These photographs show two late-summer views of Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park, Montana. In the photo taken around 1940, top, Upper Grinnell Lake had only begun to form at the glacier’s end. By 2006, bottom, melting ice had caused the lake to swell in size. Researchers predict that warming will melt all of the park’s glaciers by 2030. Credit: Glacier National Park Archives, top,U.S. Geological Survey, photograph by Karen Holtzer, bottom

Objective:

The National Park System consists of hundreds of areas in the United States that have been set aside for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. These areas, called parklands, are natural wonderlands, famous historic places, or sites for many kinds of outdoor recreation. They include national parks, monuments, battlefields, lakeshores, rivers, and historic buildings. The United States government established the first national park in the world, Yellowstone National Park, in 1872. The National Park System developed with the creation of additional parklands. Today, the District of Columbia and every state have at least one national parkland, and the system consists of about 410 areas and totals more than 84 million acres (34 million hectares). The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore Glacier National Park and other national park system areas.

Words to know:

• Glacier
• Glacier National Park
• Global warming
• Montana
• National park
• National Park System

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students to name some famous national parks around the world. (Students might say Banff National Park, Death Valley National Park, Denali National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Galapagos National Park, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Iguaçu National Park, Jasper National Park, Kilimanjaro National Park, Komodo National Park, Kruger National Park, Serengeti National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park.)

2. Ask your students to debate, “Global warming is the biggest threat that humans are facing right now.”

3. Ask your students to discuss, “If global warming is not reversed, how will our lives be different in the future?”

4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to make a timeline showing the history of the National Park System. (Students may wish to use World Book’s “National Park System” article and the articles of individual park system areas for help.)

Current Event: Hot Water in Icy Space

Enceladus, an icy moon orbiting Saturn, is quickly becoming one of the hottest spots in the search for life beyond Earth. A group of scientists recently determined that hydrothermal vents (flows of heated water) likely exist in a global ocean beneath Enceladus’s icy crust. These vents could possibly be home to life forms. Like only a few known satellites, Enceladus shows signs of ongoing geological activity. Scientists have observed a plume of particles erupting from Enceladus’s south polar region. The plume is fed by several individual jets on the surface of the moon that release mostly water vapor and grains of water ice. The scientists found molecular hydrogen (H₂) in Enceladus’s plumes. Such hydrogen is thought to be rare in planetary bodies as small as Enceladus. The scientists determined that the hydrogen most likely came from hydrothermal vents on a sea floor within Enceladus. On Earth, hydrothermal vents are places where heated water flows from the ocean floor. Some deep-sea vents support diverse and exotic communities of marine life. Certain microbes can use the heat of the water to produce energy. These microbes are in turn consumed or harbored by larger organisms. Scientists suspect that life could flourish around such vents on other planets or moons.

Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, contains geysers at its south polar region that spray water vapor and grains of water ice into space. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Objective:

Saturn is the second-largest planet in the solar system and the sixth from the Sun. Saturn can be seen from Earth with the unaided eye and was the farthest planet from Earth known to ancient observers. Astronomers believe that the planet is a giant ball of hydrogen and helium with no solid surface. Saturn’s most famous feature is its gleaming rings. Saturn’s rings consist of ice particles that travel around the planet. It has seven main rings, which vary greatly in width. Saturn’s rings cannot be seen from Earth with the unaided eye. In addition to the rings, Saturn has several large moons and dozens of smaller satellites. Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, has an atmosphere thicker than that of Earth. Enceladus, another moon, has erupting geysers that spew water ice and organic (carbon-bearing) molecules into space. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore Saturn and other astronomical topics.

Words to know:

• Astronomy
• Cassini
• Enceladus
• Hydrothermal vent
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• Planet
• Satellite
• Saturn
• Solar system
• Space exploration

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students if they can name the eight planets and five dwarf planets that are in the solar system. (The eight planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The five dwarf planets are Ceres, Eris, Haumea, Makemake, and Pluto.)

2. Ask your students to debate: “Is it worth it for countries to spend a lot of money on space exploration programs? Why or why not?”

3. Private companies have begun launching people into space. Ask your students if they would want to visit another planet or any other celestial body. Assuming they could safely travel anywhere in space, where would they go? Would they go if they knew they could never return to Earth?

4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the Advances in Astronomy timeline. (Students may wish to use World Book’s “Astronomy” article for help.)

Current Event: The Purple Heart Battalion

The Purple Heart Battalion was the nickname given to a Japanese American unit in the United States Army during World War II (1939-1945). The unit was officially the 100th Battalion of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. It earned its nickname because of the many casualties (people killed and wounded) it suffered in combat. American soldiers wounded or killed in combat are recognized with a medal called the Purple Heart. On Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, brought the United States into World War II. The attack also stirred hostility against Japanese Americans. After the attack, the U.S. government moved many Japanese Americans to camps in the western United States. Early in 1943, however, the government approved the formation of a Japanese American combat unit—the 442nd Regiment. The battalion entered combat in Italy, fought in the bloody battles at Monte Cassino and Anzio, suffered terrible casualties freeing French towns from German occupation, and took many casualties rescuing the 1st Battalion of the 141st U.S. Infantry Regiment, a “lost battalion” trapped behind enemy lines. Of the roughly 14,000 soldiers who served in the 442nd, the U.S. military awarded 9,486 of them Purple Hearts. Twenty-one of them received Medals of Honor. The Medal of Honor is the highest individual military decoration awarded by the U.S. government. The 442nd also received seven Presidential Unit Citations, the highest award for valor given to a military unit as a whole.

Japanese Americans served in the 100th Battalion of the U.S. Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team, seen here advancing towards Bruyères, France, in October 1944. The unit is remembered as the Purple Heart Battalion. Credit: U.S. Army Photo/US National Archives

Objective:

World War II (1939-1945) was the most destructive war in history. It killed more people, destroyed more property, and disrupted more lives than any other war in history. Historians believe that about 50 million to 60 million civilians and soldiers died during the six years of fighting. As a result of the war, much of Europe and parts of Asia lay in ruins. In addition to the tens of millions of people who died, millions more were left starving and homeless. The war brought about the downfall of Western Europe as the center of world power. It led to the dominance of the Soviet Union and the United States, and set off a power struggle between the two countries called the Cold War. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore the people and battles of World War II.

Words to know:

• Anzio
• Asian Americans
• Cassino
• Japanese American internment
• Medal of Honor
• Pearl Harbor
• Purple Heart Battalion
• World War II

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students to name military and political leaders of World War II. (Famous military leaders include Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, Bernard Montgomery, George S. Patton, and Erwin Rommel. Famous political leaders include Winston Churchill, Hirohito, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin.)

2. Have your students debate, “How would the world be different today if World War II had never been fought?” Or they can debate, “How would the world be different today if the Axis countries had won World War II?”

3. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the World War II: Europe and Northern Africa timeline. (Students may wish to use World Book’s “World War II” article for help.)

Current Event: Shaking the Dino Family Tree

For decades, dinosaurs have been grouped into two broad categories: long-necked sauropods and meat-eating theropods (along with birds) in one group, and the remaining plant-eaters, such as Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and Iguanodon, in the other. Recently, a group of scientists led by Matthew G. Baron from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom challenged this view. Baron studied 73 dinosaur species and catalogued 457 skeletal characteristics with them. He coded these characters into a computer program, which returned new controversial results. Though paleontologists commended Baron for the meticulousness of his work, they were quick to point out that more data would be needed to convincingly rearrange the family tree. The divisions have been upheld for decades by dozens of analyses, so it will take more than one new analysis to convince paleontologists to overturn 130 years of study.

Tyrannosaurus is a fearsome example of a saurischian (reptile-hipped) dinosaur. Credit: © Science Picture Company/SuperStock

Objective:

Dinosaurs are a group of prehistoric reptiles that ruled Earth for about 160 million years. Dinosaurs lived during most of the Mesozoic Era. This period in Earth’s history lasted from about 251 million to 65 million years ago. These animals died out millions of years ago, but they have fascinated people ever since they were first described in the early 1800′s. The name dinosaur comes from the term Dinosauria, which means terribly great lizards. But dinosaurs were not lizards, only distantly related to them, and most were not very terrible. Some dinosaurs towered above and weighed more than any other animal ever to live on land. Many of these large dinosaurs were fierce and deadly meat-eaters. The smallest kinds of dinosaurs were approximately the size of a chicken. Scientists learn about dinosaurs by studying their fossils, which include preserved dinosaur bones, teeth, eggs, nests, tracks, skin imprints, and waste material. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.

Words to know:

• Dinosaur
• Fossil
• Mesozoic Era
• Paleontology
• Prehistoric animal
• Scientific classification

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students to name some types of dinosaurs. (Students might name the Albertosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Brontosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Hadrosaur, Iguanodon, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor.)

2. Ask your students to debate: “If scientists were able to resurrect dinosaurs or other extinct animals by cloning or other methods, should they do it?”

3. Ask your students to use the World Book’s Timelines feature to create a timeline of dinosaur discoveries. (Students may wish to use the “Dinosaur discoveries” section of the Dinosaur article for help.)

Current Event: Jazz Appreciation Month: Ella Fitzgerald

April 25, 2017, marks the 100^th anniversary of jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald’s birth. Fitzgerald was one of the best and most popular singers in jazz history. Often called the “first lady of song,” she was known for her pure and beautiful tone, extended range, flawless intonation, and strong sense of jazz feeling. She also became famous for her ability to improvise through scat singing. Fitzgerald enjoyed a lengthy and successful career, winning 13 Grammy Awards and selling more than 40 million albums. She received the National Medal of Arts and is a Kennedy Center Honoree. (Such honorees are recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts.) Ella Fitzgerald died on June 15, 1996, at the age of 79.

Ella Fitzgerald performs with her husband, bassist Ray Brown, as trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie looks on. Credit: Library of Congress

Objective:

Jazz is a kind of music that has often been called the only art form to originate in the United States. The history of jazz began in the late 1800′s. The music grew from a combination of influences, including black American music, African rhythms, American band traditions and instruments, and European harmonies and forms. One of the key elements of jazz is improvisation—the ability to create new music spontaneously. This skill is the distinguishing characteristic of the genuine jazz musician. Improvisation raises the role of the soloist from just a performer and reproducer of others’ ideas to a composer as well. Another important element of jazz is syncopation. To syncopate their music, jazz musicians take patterns that are even and regular and break them up, make them uneven, and put accents in unexpected places. The earliest jazz was performed by black Americans who had little or no training in Western music and by “Creoles of color,” who were educated and had musical training. Creoles were descendants of early French or Spanish settlers in Louisiana. These musicians drew on a strong musical culture from black life. As jazz grew in popularity, its sound was influenced by musicians with formal training and classical backgrounds. During its history, jazz has absorbed influences from the folk and classical music of Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world. The development of instruments with new and different characteristics has also influenced the sound of jazz. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore jazz and other kinds of music.

Words to know:

• Billie Holiday
• Duke Ellington
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Grammy Awards
• Jazz
• Louis Armstrong
• Miles Davis
• Music

Discussion Topics:

1. Jazz is one kind of music. Ask your students to name some other kinds of music. (Students might say blues, classical music, country music, folk music, popular music, rap music, reggae, rock music, salsa.)

2. Ask your students who their favorite singer is.

3. Ask your students to debate, “All students should be required to take either an art or a music class each school year.”

4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the Jazz timeline. (Students may wish to use World Book’s “Jazz” article for help.)

Current Event: Mythic Monday: Anubis of the Afterlife

Anubis, depicted in ancient Egyptian art as a crouching jackal or dog, or as a man with a jackal’s head, is one of the best-known gods of ancient Egyptian mythology. He served as the god of mummification, the ancient Egyptian technique of embalming the dead. His main center of worship was at Kynopolis, which means Dog City in Greek. The culture of ancient Egypt existed for thousands of years. Over time, the role of Anubis changed, but he always held an important place in Egyptian mythology. Thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, hungry jackals would dig up bodies buried in shallow desert graves and feed on them. To ancient Egyptians, who thought that a person’s body needed to be preserved in order to enjoy the afterlife, this was a fate worse than death itself. Consequently, people would pray and make offerings to the jackal god to spare the bodies of their loved ones. In this way, the jackal became associated with the dead, and Anubis was worshiped as the god of the underworld. As burials became more complex, another pest became a threat to the comfortable afterlives of ancient Egyptians: grave robbers. To ward off would-be robbers, artisans decorated tombs with sculptures and carvings of Anubis. Priests inscribed curses into the tomb walls, invoking the jackal god and promising punishment in this life and the next to any who desecrated the tombs. Later, Anubis was credited with inventing the mummification process, enabling mortals to live on in the afterlife.

This exquisite statue of Anubis, the god of mummification and the afterlife, was found in King Tutankhamun’s tomb. Credit: © Prisma/Alamy Images

Objective:

Ancient Egypt was the birthplace of one of the world’s first civilizations. This advanced culture arose about 5,000 years ago in the Nile River Valley in northeastern Africa. It thrived for over 2,000 years and so became one of the longest-lasting civilizations in history. The Nile River was the lifeblood of ancient Egypt. Its annual flood deposited the fertile soil that enabled Egypt’s farmers to raise a huge supply of food. The river also provided water for irrigation and served as Egypt’s main transportation route. The ancient Egyptians made outstanding contributions to the development of civilization. They created the world’s first national government, basic forms of arithmetic, and a 365-day calendar. They invented a form of picture writing called hieroglyphics as well as papyrus, a paperlike writing material made from the stems of papyrus plants. The Egyptians also built many pyramids, limestone temples, and the Great Sphinx. Three huge pyramids at Giza rank as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore ancient Egypt.

Words to know:

• Ancient Egypt
• Anubis
• Hieroglyphics
• Jackal
• Mummy
• Mythology
• Nile River
• Papyrus
• Pyramids
• Sphinx

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students to name some ancient civilizations besides the Egyptians. (Students might say the Assyrians, Babylonians, Celts, Chinese, Greeks, Persians, Phoenicians, Romans.)

2. Ask your students to name some famous ancient Egyptians. (Students might say Cleopatra, Hatshepsut, Khufu, Nefertiti, Ramses II, Snefru, Thutmose III, Tutankhamun.)

3. Ask your students if they would rather live in ancient Egypt (or any other ancient civilization) or in modern times. Have them explain why.

4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the History of Ancient Egypt timeline. (Students may wish to use the “History” section of World Book’s “Ancient Egypt” article for help.)

Current Event: U.S. Enters World War I: 100 Years

April 6, 1917, marked the 100^th anniversary of when the United States House of Representatives approved a resolution declaring war on Germany, entering the United States into World War I. Four days earlier, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson had asked Congress for a declaration of war, warning “the world must be made safe for democracy.” At the start of World War I, President Wilson declared the neutrality of the United States. Most Americans initially opposed U.S. involvement in a European war. However, Germany’s sinking of the Lusitania and other actions against civilians drew American sympathies to the Allies. Several events early in 1917 persuaded the U.S. government to enter the “war to end all wars.” In February, Germany returned to unrestricted submarine warfare. Tension between the United States and Germany further increased as a result of the “Zimmermann telegram.” The telegram was a message from Germany’s foreign minister, Arthur Zimmermann, to the German ambassador to Mexico. The British intercepted and decoded the message in January and relayed the message to the United States in late February. The message revealed a German plot to persuade Mexico to go to war against the United States. Wilson finally called for war, and Congress backed him up on April 6. However, the U.S. military at that time lacked experience, modern weapons, and a sufficient number of soldiers. It would be a year before enough American troops were in Europe to help the Allies defeat Germany.

President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war on Germany on April 2, 1917. Credit: Library of Congress

Objective:

World War I, sometimes called the Great War, involved more countries than any other war up to its time. The war was fought between the Allies, which included France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States; and the Central Powers, which included Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire. World War I was more destructive than any previous conflict. Tens of millions of soldiers were killed or wounded. Including the flu epidemic that began at the end of the war, tens of millions of civilians died of disease, starvation, and other war-related causes. The economic chaos caused by the war helped lead to the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The “war to end all wars” failed to live up to that promise as just 21 years later, World War II (1939-1945) began. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore the people and battles of World War I.

Words to know:

• Congress of the United States
• House of Representatives
• Lusitania
• Spanish flu
• Submarine
• Treaty of Versailles
• Woodrow Wilson
• World War I
• Zimmermann telegram

Discussion Topics:

1. Have your students review World Book’s World War I article. Ask your students to name military and political leaders of World War I. (They might name Georges Clemenceau, David Lloyd George, Paul von Hindenburg, T. E. Lawrence [Lawrence of Arabia], Nicholas II, John J. Pershing, Baron Manfred von Richthofen [the Red Baron], Wilhelm II, Woodrow Wilson.)

2. Ask your students to name wars that have been fought since World War I, “the war to end all wars,” ended. (They might say the Afghanistan War, Bosnian War, Falklands War, Iran-Iraq War, Iraq War, Korean War, Persian Gulf War of 1991, Six-Day War, Spanish Civil War, Vietnam War, World War II.)

3. Have your students debate the topic, “When is war justified?”

4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the World War I timeline. (Students may wish to use World Book’s World War I article for help)

Current Event: Seward’s Icebox: 150 Years

March 30, 2017, marks 150 years since the United States purchased Alaska from Russia. On March 30, 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward signed the Treaty of Cession of Russian America to the United States. The $7.2-million deal (equal to about $112 million today) turned out to be an incredible bargain, but at the time, many Americans opposed the purchase. People ridiculed spending millions of dollars on a largely unknown and frozen wilderness. Critics of the deal called Alaska Seward’s Icebox—or Seward’s Folly, Icebergia, or [then-President] Andrew Johnson’s polar bear garden. Russia had been involved in the Alaska region since the 1600’s. After being weakened by the Crimean War (1853-1856), Russia asked the United States to buy Alaska. However, negotiations failed with the threat and then onset of the American Civil War (1861-1865). In 1867, the United States reached an agreement with Russia to purchase Alaska. With money badly needed for Reconstruction, however, few people saw the wisdom in the Alaska purchase. With much of the western United States still unexplored or undeveloped, Alaska was not an immediate priority. But the area’s rich natural resources—including fish, gold, and timber—brought people steadily north to Alaska. In 1946, Alaskans voted for statehood and began crafting a state constitution. On Jan. 3, 1959, Seward’s Icebox entered the Union as the 49^th state.

Alaska’s vast wilderness and natural resources were unappreciated in 1867, when skeptical Americans dubbed it Seward’s Icebox. Credit: © David Muench/Stone from Getty Images

Objective:

Alaska is the largest state of the United States in area. However, Alaska has a relatively small population. Alaska is often called the Last Frontier because much of the state is not fully settled. Juneau is Alaska’s capital. Anchorage is the state’s most populous city. About 500 miles (800 kilometers) of Canadian territory separate Alaska from Washington, the nearest of the other U.S. states. Alaskans often refer to the rest of the continental United States, including Washington, as the “lower 48.” Almost a third of Alaska lies north of the Arctic Circle. However, Point Barrow, the northernmost point, is almost 1,300 miles (2,090 kilometers) south of the North Pole. The state has a wide range of temperatures—as low as –80 °F (–62 °C), and as high as 100 °F (38 °C). Alaska is famous for its towering mountains and beautiful scenery. Denali, which rises 20,310 feet (6,190 meters) above sea level, is the nation’s highest peak. Alaska also has the 15 next highest peaks and almost all of the active volcanoes in the United States. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore Alaska and the other states.

Words to know:

• Alaska
• Anchorage
• Arctic Circle
• Crimean War
• Denali
• Juneau
• Russia
• William Seward

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students what they know about Russia. (Students might say Russia is the largest country in area; Moscow is Russia’s capital and largest city; most Russians live in the western–or European–part of the country; Siberia makes up about 75 percent of Russia’s territory; Russia is known for its long and bitter winters.)

2. Many people visit Alaska to see its beautiful scenery. Ask your students to debate what natural wonder they would like to visit.

3. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the History of Alaska timeline. (Students may wish to use the “History” section of World Book’s “Alaska” article for help.)