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The cover of 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

What was it like for ordinary women to work in a secret town, on jobs they could not discuss, for a project built to stay hidden?

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At a glance

Author
Denise Kiernan

Why read it

  • You will see how a whole town was built and run in secret, and how people lived under strict rules of silence
  • You will learn how work by ordinary women, often left out of the story, helped decide a war
  • You will think about the cost of silence and what people give up when they cannot ask questions

Who it is for

  • Someone who likes stories of ordinary people behind big events
  • A descendant of wartime workers looking for their world
  • A team member working under strict confidentiality

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Principal Cast of Characters
  3. Revelation, August 1945
  4. 1: EVERYTHING WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF : TRAIN TO NOWHERE, AUGUST 1943
  5. Tubealloy: The Bohemian Grove to the Appalachian Hills, September 1942
  6. 2: PEACHES AND PEARLS: THE TAKING OF SITE X, FALL 1942
  7. Tubealloy: Ida and the Atom, 1934
  8. 3: THROUGH THE GATES: CLINTON ENGINEER WORKS, FALL 1943
  9. Tubealloy: Lise and Fission, 1938
  10. 4: BULL PENS AND CREEPS: THE PROJECT’S WELCOME FOR NEW EMPLOYEES
  11. Tubealloy: Leona and Success in Chicago, December 1942
  12. 5: ONLY TEMPORARY: SPRING INTO SUMMER, 1944
  13. Tubealloy: The Quest for Product
  14. 6: TO WORK
  15. Tubealloy: The Couriers
  16. 7: RHYTHMS OF LIFE
  17. Tubealloy: Security, Censorship, and the Press
  18. 8: THE ONE ABOUT THE FIREFLIES . . .
  19. Tubealloy: Pumpkins, Spies, and Chicken Soup, Fall 1944
  20. 9: THE UNSPOKEN: SWEETHEARTS AND SECRETS
  21. Tubealloy: Combining Efforts in the New Year
  22. 10: CURIOSITY AND SILENCE
  23. Tubealloy: The Project’s Crucial Spring
  24. 11: INNOCENCE LOST
  25. Tubealloy: Hope and the Haberdasher, April–May 1945
  26. 12: SAND JUMPS IN THE DESERT, JULY 1945
  27. 13: THE GADGET REVEALED
  28. 14: DAWN OF A THOUSAND SUNS
  29. 15: LIFE IN THE NEW AGE
  30. Epilogue
  31. Photographs
  32. Reading Group Guide
  33. About Denise Kiernan

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