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Overall Summary
Published in 2013, Denise Kiernan’s book tells the stories of Oak Ridge and its workers. It was a town that grew around plutonium processing plants during World War II. The book received positive reviews from critics and readers alike. It became an instant bestseller within its first week of publication, going on to receive the 2014 APSA Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award for being one of the year’s most important books about public affairs.
The reader learns about Oak Ridge through the experiences of several new arrivals. The town is strange because it isn’t complete and doesn’t officially exist. Many people are horrified by these conditions, but they tolerate them with a positive attitude and a wartime spirit of making do.
It’s clear that secrecy is the key to employment in this town. People who take jobs there don’t know what they’re doing, but they accept their roles because it helps end the war quickly. Before being allowed to work at the project, people are heavily screened and sometimes kept waiting for clearance. Once on site, workers are given limited information about what they’re doing and why. There are undercover officers everywhere and a prevailing sense that someone is always watching them.
The Clinton Engineering Works (CEW) was a secretive place, and it caused stress for many people. In order to relieve some of that stress, the CEW employees made various efforts to make their workplace more like home. For example, dances were organized and sports clubs formed so that the workers could have fun outside of work. Eventually, even music societies and other organizations sprang up in this strange environment.
The Oak Ridge residents try to find some normalcy in the midst of secrecy. They work hard at their plants and refine plutonium for use as fuel in the atomic bomb, which is nicknamed “the Gadget”.
When the workers at CEW (Canadian Engineering Works) heard that they had been working on something called atomic bombs, and that these bombs were dropped over Japan to end World War II, some of them felt jubilation because they wanted the war to end. Others felt sorrow and shame for being part of a project that caused so much destruction. Years later, many workers remembered both their joy at ending the war and their sadness about what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The end of World War II brings great change to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The town was originally used for military purposes but now that the war is over, it’s a fully functioning city with bus routes and recreational facilities. Although some people move on, many continue to live in Oak Ridge and turn it into a normal town by creating a future that wasn’t imagined before.
Chapter 1: “Everything Will be Taken Care Of: Train to Nowhere, August 1943”
Celia, a young woman wearing a new dress and her hair in waves, takes a train to an unknown destination. She is one of many women who are on the same journey without knowing where it will end. As she travels further from her home town, she wonders what kind of job awaits her because secrecy is the key word for this undertaking.
Celia accepts that secrets are kept for a reason. Besides, it’s hard to complain about war when you’re trying to do your part by going to work in the factory. The other women on the train have been told that their new jobs will help end the war faster and they should accept them.
Celia, a secretary at the time, was offered a job in the government. She didn’t know what her duties would be but she took it because she wanted to contribute to the war effort and make some money. Her boss told her that they were relocating but wouldn’t tell her where they were going. Because of all this secrecy, Celia decided that it couldn’t be too bad if she had to move with them.
