The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan

The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan

The New York Times bestseller, now available in paperback--an incredible true story of the top-secret World War II town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the young women brought there unknowingly to help build the atomic bomb.

"The best kind of nonfiction: marvelously reported, fluidly written, and a remarkable story...As meticulous and brilliant as it is compulsively readable." --Karen Abbott, author of Sin in the Second City

At the height of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was home to 75,000 residents, and consumed more electricity than New York City, yet it was shrouded in such secrecy that it did not appear on any map. Thousands of civilians, many of them young women from small towns across the U.S., were recruited to this secret city, enticed by the promise of solid wages and war-ending work. What were they actually doing there? Very few knew. The purpose of this mysterious government project was kept a secret from the outside world and from the majority of the residents themselves. Some wondered why, despite the constant work and round-the-clock activity in this makeshift town, did no tangible product of any kind ever seem to leave its guarded gates? The women who kept this town running would find out at the end of the war, when Oak Ridge's secret was revealed and changed the world forever.

Drawing from the voices and experiences of the women who lived and worked in Oak Ridge, The Girls of Atomic City rescues a remarkable, forgotten chapter of World War II from obscurity. Denise Kiernan captures the spirit of the times through these women: their pluck, their desire to contribute, and their enduring courage. "A phenomenal story," and Publishers Weekly called it an "intimate and revealing glimpse into one of the most important scientific developments in history."

"Kiernan has amassed a deep reservoir of intimate details of what life was like for women living in the secret city...Rosie, it turns out, did much more than drive rivets." --The Washington Post

Denise Kiernan is the author of The Last Castle, which was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. The Girls of Atomic City, her previous book, was a New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and NPR bestseller. Kiernan's work has appeared in a variety of magazines, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Village Voice, Reader's Digest, Discover, and many others. She has also worked in television, as the chief writer for ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire during its Emmy-winning first season and as a producer for ESPN and MSNBC. She has been on NPR's Weekend Edition, PBS NewsHour, MSNBC's Morning Joe, and Jon Stewart's The Daily Show.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781451617535
ISBN 10	1451617534
Title	The Girls of Atomic City
Author	Denise Kiernan
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Atria Books
Year published	2014-03-11
Number of pages	416
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.