Drupal mysql database

Hi: I was wondering if anyone knows, which tables, control and store the stories and menus of old stories? Also I was curious which table contains and controls where anyone can view stories anywhere thoughout the Site without logging ? I know these are probably da questions for you drupal oldhands, but I would really like to understand Drupal to its bowels. I don't want to just be able to just up or download a datebase.sql and save as a backup, I want to understand how to do any damage control on any table in the drupal database.. Is there somewhere where these docs are located? Any input on this really would be appreciated.