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The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II

Denise Kiernan

Discussion: 2013-Jan-Feb-Mar

Why we're reading this: March 28, 2013
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2013-Jan-Feb-Mar

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* March 2013
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 36 views

last updated Mar 31, 2013 11:56AM

* February 2013
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 39 views

last updated Mar 01, 2013 06:08PM

What Members Thought

Aug 13, 2013 judy rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, history

"Mind-blowing" seems to be a word getting a lot of use these days. I'm going to apply it to this completely surprising and fascinating book. I have no idea how this made it onto my list but I'm so glad it did. The book is the story of Oak Ridge, TN which did not exist in 1942 except for some farms and lots of land. By 1945 it had 75,000 residents, shops, churches, schools, dances, sports and the second largest bus system in the world. It was virtually unknown to the rest of the country. Between ...more

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Sep 05, 2016 Judy rated it really liked it

Instead of focusing on the scientists and policy makers involved in the Manhattan Project, this book examines the role that women working at Oak Ridge, Tennessee played in the building of the atomic bomb. And the result is fascinating.

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Jun 03, 2019 Jennifer W rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, byt-1900-1945

A part of US history that I knew a little bit about, but not so much the ins and outs of daily life. The mud, the secrecy, the paranoia, the socializing, the perks, the downsides. While none of the young women stood out particularly strongly, taken as a whole, remarkable work took place at Oak Ridge in a very short amount of time. Much of it done by rural, not very well-educated women, as the men were overseas. I keep wondering if something of that scale could happen today. For all we know, it i ...more

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Mar 29, 2013 Danielle Dandreaux rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, world-war-ii

This book told the fascinating story of the women who helped make the atomic bombs in WWII. The story details the women who made scientific discoveries concerning fission and the splitting of the atom. It also followed several women who picked up their lives to move to an unknown location to complete unknown jobs to help end WWII. Living in an age where information is found quickly by typing a couple of things into a small handheld device, it is hard to imagine making choices that these women ma This book told the fascinating story of the women who helped make the atomic bombs in WWII. The story details the women who made scientific discoveries concerning fission and the splitting of the atom. It also followed several women who picked up their lives to move to an unknown location to complete unknown jobs to help end WWII. Living in an age where information is found quickly by typing a couple of things into a small handheld device, it is hard to imagine making choices that these women made. They got on trains without knowing where they were going. They completed jobs without knowing what they were accomplishing. They lived in a town that officially didn't exist behind armed gates. There were signs everywhere stating that they could not talk about what they did at their jobs or share anything that may be used by the Nazis or Japs. If you asked questions, you disappeared. Signs included:

Your PEN and TONGUE can be Enemy WEAPONS: Watch what you write and say
What you see here, What you do here, What you hear here, When you leave here, Let it stay here

I could not imagine doing what these women did; however, I have to remind myself that we live in very different worlds. Also, many of these women were motivated to bring brothers home from fighting in the war. It was entertaining to read the stories about some of the women's guesses about what they were doing. Two of my favorites were: one woman's job involved collecting urine and was convinced that what they were doing involved urine and another woman thought they were making blue paint to paint the submarines so the enemy would not see the subs rising out of the water. After the bombs were dropped, the women discovered that they helped build the atomic bomb. For many years, many of the women had no idea what their individual jobs accomplished.

One of the interesting outcomes of this project were the unexpected results. This was a military operation that built a temporary town. Many of the people living in this town created lifelong bonds and many marriages. Some of the women still live in Oak Ridge as it slowly evolved into a real town in Tennessee. This time in history encouraged women to leave their homes and do whatever they would for their country and the war effort. Many young women from small towns traveled to places far away and changed the course of their lives forever. They were brave and took risks affecting the future for all women.

Many people still do not know about the little town of Oak Ridge, TN or the work that occurred there. Those who meet these women often ask them hard questions about the part they played in creating the first atomic bombs and how they felt about this work. I can only imagine their mixed feelings as they took part in this endeavor. They built a weapon that ended the war. This weapon also caused the loss of life of many men, women, and children. ...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Tiffany rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history, tds_tcr

Denise Kiernan was on The Daily Show when the book first came out. Her interview, in two parts, is here and here.

This book reminds me a bit of The Debs of Bletchley Park and Other Stories, mostly because it's a story of women doing work on secret war projects (so secret that not even the women working on the projects know what they're working on) that would end up winning the war for their side. ...more

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