City Behind a Fence: Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 1942-1946

During World War II, the United States government, working through the Army Corp of Engineer, undertook an unprecedented experiment—the development of the world's first nuclear weapon. Although the fiery conclusion of the Manhattan Project is well known, the prelude to the story—the saga of the people sequestered in the project's three crucial support communities—has remained obscure. Built from the ground up, these "secret cities"are phenomena of special import for American social history....