Product Description

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 civiliansmany of them young women from small towns across the Southwere 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 warwhen Oak Ridges secret was revealed.Drawing on the voices of the women who lived itwomen who are now in their eighties and nineties 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 with the intimate biography and often troubling science of , is a lasting and important addition to our countrys history.