The women encapsulated in this book came from all over the United States, from different backgrounds in which Kiernan takes special care to emphasize. From the day they stepped onto the muddy paths at Oak Ridge to the days that followed the project’s completion, each character tells her story. The reader is transported to a moment in history, more than just a place or time, and can experience the emotions and uneasiness of working for a top-secret project in the cleared forests of Tennessee. Kiernan highlights the stories of women at the Y-12 plant at Site X/Oak Ridge in Tennessee who worked on the Manhattan Project. Unsure of what you signed up for, but still hopeful of the well-paying opportunity, you continue to walk onto the muddy land of Oak Ridge Tennessee. “They weren’t arriving as much as sinking into a sopping sea of mud” (Kiernan, 37). You step out of the car and into a vast land of mud. You arrive to an undisclosed location with a suitcase. You are a young woman with hopes and dreams but weary from the war. You were hired for a position with the federal government on behalf of the home front effort during World War II. Imagine traveling to an unknown location. Kiernan is a seasoned writer and has written several books as well as articles in well-known publications. This book depicts the hidden aspects of Manhattan Project’s Oak Ridge, known as Site X, and its Y-12 plant from the perspectives of the women who worked at the site. Our book review choice for this month is The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan.
Smithsonian Affiliated National Atomic Testing Museum
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