The Girls of Atomic City

Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan   373 pages

In this true story, the author traces the story of the unrecognized WWII workers in the Tennessee town of Oak Ridge through interviews with dozens of surviving residents. One of the Manhattan Project’s secret cities created in 1942, didn’t appear on any maps until 1949, and yet at the height of World War II it was using more electricity than New York City and was home to more than 75,000 people, many of them young women recruited from small towns across the South. Their jobs were shrouded in mystery, but they were buoyed by a sense of shared purpose, close friendships—and a surplus of handsome scientists and Army men!
But against this vibrant wartime backdrop, a darker story was unfolding. The penalty for talking about their work-even the most innocuous details-was job loss and eviction. They all knew something big was happening at Oak Ridge, but few could piece together the true nature of their work until the bomb "Little Boy" was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan, and the secret was out. The shocking revelation: the residents of Oak Ridge were enriching uranium for the atomic bomb.

Although difficult to view through the lens of modern technology and communication, it is fascinating to imagine thousands of people accepting uncertain jobs in an unknown location for an undetermined amount of time, and then to keep what little became known a secret, even from those closest to them. Although it is a great story, it often read like a combination science/social studies textbook, information that was interesting the first time but dry after repeated telling. Had the story been told in half as many pages, it would have kept me engaged; as it were, however, I felt obligated to struggle through simply because it was a book club choice.

Posted By:   Regina C.