Half-Life of a Secret: Reckoning with a Hidden History

In 1943, a young chemist named George Strasser moved with his wife to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a city built in secret for the sole purpose of enriching uranium for the first atomic bomb. Not listed on area maps, Oak Ridge was governed by the strictest security, and those who worked there were provided only the minimum information necessary to complete their jobs. George learned the true purpose of his work, along with the rest of the city and the world, on August 6, 1945, when Truman announced...