The girls of Atomic City: the untold story of the women who helped win World War II
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Language:
English
Description
The incredible story of the young women of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, who unwittingly played a crucial role in one of the most significant moments in US history.
At the height of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was home to 75,000 residents, consuming more electricity than New York City. But to most of the world, the town did not exist. Thousands of civilians'many of them young women from small towns across the South'were recruited to this secret city, enticed by solid wages and the promise of war-ending work. Kept very much in the dark, few would ever guess the true nature of the tasks they performed each day in the hulking factories in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains. That is, until the end of the war'when Oak Ridge's secret was revealed.
Drawing on the voices of the women who lived it'women who are now in their eighties and nineties'The Girls of Atomic City rescues a remarkable, forgotten chapter of American history from obscurity. Denise Kiernan captures the spirit of the times through these women: their pluck, their desire to contribute, and their enduring courage. Combining the grand-scale human drama of The Worst Hard Time with the intimate biography and often troubling science of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Girls of Atomic City is a lasting and important addition to our country's history.
At the height of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was home to 75,000 residents, consuming more electricity than New York City. But to most of the world, the town did not exist. Thousands of civilians'many of them young women from small towns across the South'were recruited to this secret city, enticed by solid wages and the promise of war-ending work. Kept very much in the dark, few would ever guess the true nature of the tasks they performed each day in the hulking factories in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains. That is, until the end of the war'when Oak Ridge's secret was revealed.
Drawing on the voices of the women who lived it'women who are now in their eighties and nineties'The Girls of Atomic City rescues a remarkable, forgotten chapter of American history from obscurity. Denise Kiernan captures the spirit of the times through these women: their pluck, their desire to contribute, and their enduring courage. Combining the grand-scale human drama of The Worst Hard Time with the intimate biography and often troubling science of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Girls of Atomic City is a lasting and important addition to our country's history.
Subjects
Subjects
Audiobooks
Biography & Autobiography
History
Large type books
Military
Nonfiction
Oak Ridge (Tenn.) -- Biography
Oak Ridge (Tenn.) -- History -- 20th century
Oak Ridge (Tenn.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th century
Oak Ridge National Laboratory -- History -- 20th century
Official secrets
Official secrets -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Social life and customs
Uranium enrichment
Uranium enrichment -- History -- 20th century
Women
Women -- Tennessee -- Oak Ridge -- Interviews
Women employees
Women employees -- Tennessee -- Oak Ridge -- History -- 20th century
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Tennessee -- Oak Ridge
World War, 1939-1945 -- Women -- Tennessee -- Oak Ridge
Biography & Autobiography
History
Large type books
Military
Nonfiction
Oak Ridge (Tenn.) -- Biography
Oak Ridge (Tenn.) -- History -- 20th century
Oak Ridge (Tenn.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th century
Oak Ridge National Laboratory -- History -- 20th century
Official secrets
Official secrets -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Social life and customs
Uranium enrichment
Uranium enrichment -- History -- 20th century
Women
Women -- Tennessee -- Oak Ridge -- Interviews
Women employees
Women employees -- Tennessee -- Oak Ridge -- History -- 20th century
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Tennessee -- Oak Ridge
World War, 1939-1945 -- Women -- Tennessee -- Oak Ridge
More Details
Contributors:
ISBN:
9781451617528
9781451617542
9781480597266
9781594137204
9781410456472
9781451617542
9781480597266
9781594137204
9781410456472
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Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | 9a8fb9ff-022d-05d3-fb1c-d29e84eddca5 |
---|---|
Grouping Title | girls of atomic city the untold story of the women who helped win world war ii |
Grouping Author | denise kiernan |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2022-05-17 04:40:51AM |
Last Indexed | 2022-05-17 05:06:39AM |
Novelist Primary ISBN | none |
Solr Details
accelerated_reader_point_value | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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accelerated_reader_reading_level | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
auth_author2 | Campbell, Cassandra | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
author | Kiernan, Denise | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
author2-role | Campbell, Cassandra,narrator | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
author_display | Kiernan, Denise | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
available_at_addison | Addison Public Library Online OverDrive Collection | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
collection_addison | Adults | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
detailed_location_addison | 2nd Floor- Adult Audio Books 2nd Floor- Adult Books Online OverDrive Collection | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
display_description | In this book the author traces the story of the unsung World War II workers in Oak Ridge, Tennessee through interviews with dozens of surviving women and other Oak Ridge residents. This is the story of the young women of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, who unwittingly played a crucial role in one of the most significant moments in U.S. history. The Tennessee town of Oak Ridge was created from scratch in 1942. One of the Manhattan Project's secret cities, it did not 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 wartime backdrop, a darker story was unfolding. The penalty for talking about their work, even the most innocuous details, was job loss and eviction. One woman was recruited to spy on her coworkers. 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. Though the young women originally believed they would leave Oak Ridge after the war, many met husbands there, made lifelong friends, and still call the seventy-year-old town home. The reverberations from their work there, work they did not fully understand at the time, are still being felt today. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
format_addison | Book Book on CD Large Print eBook | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
format_category_addison | Audio Books Books eBook | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
id | 9a8fb9ff-022d-05d3-fb1c-d29e84eddca5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
isbn | 9781410456472 9781451617528 9781451617542 9781480597266 9781594137204 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
item_details
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itype_addison | Audiobook on CD Large Type Nonfiction | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
last_indexed | 2022-05-17T10:06:39.475Z | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
lexile_score | -1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
literary_form | Non Fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
literary_form_full | Non Fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
local_callnumber_addison | 976.8 KIE AUDIO BOOK 976.8 KIE LT 976.8 KIE Online OverDrive | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
owning_library_addison | Addison Public Library Addison Public Library Online | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
owning_location_addison | Addison Public Library Online OverDrive Collection | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
primary_isbn | 9781451617528 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
publishDate | 2013 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
publisher | Atria Books Brilliance Audio, Simon & Schuster, Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
record_details
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recordtype | grouped_work | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
scoping_details_addison
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series | Brilliance Audio on compact disc Thorndike Press large print nonfiction | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
series_with_volume | Brilliance Audio on compact disc| Thorndike Press large print nonfiction| | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
subject_facet | Audiobooks Large type books Oak Ridge (Tenn.) -- Biography Oak Ridge (Tenn.) -- History -- 20th century Oak Ridge (Tenn.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th century Oak Ridge National Laboratory -- History -- 20th century Official secrets -- United States -- History -- 20th century Uranium enrichment -- History -- 20th century Women -- Tennessee -- Oak Ridge -- Interviews Women employees -- Tennessee -- Oak Ridge -- History -- 20th century World War, 1939-1945 -- Tennessee -- Oak Ridge World War, 1939-1945 -- Women -- Tennessee -- Oak Ridge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
title_display | The girls of Atomic City : the untold story of the women who helped win World War II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
title_full | The Girls of Atomic City The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II The girls of Atomic City : the untold story of the women who helped win World War II / Denise Kiernan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
title_short | The girls of Atomic City | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
title_sub | the untold story of the women who helped win World War II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
topic_facet | Biography & Autobiography History Large type books Military Nonfiction Official secrets Social life and customs Uranium enrichment Women Women employees World War, 1939-1945 |