Quotes from Denise Kiernan

The more she thought about it, the more she realized: Oak Ridgers had kept the most amazing secret ever.

George often bought books from publishers in an unbound state, then had the volumes bound according to his own preferences

It was a reminder in this time of tarnishing gilt, that should all else crumble, memories of gestures made, thoughtfulness considered, and seeds of inspiration planted, might outlast all.

the rest of the clan, building a mansion at 1 West Fifty-Seventh Street that would become the largest private home in the history of Manhattan.

Women were not, no matter their circumstances, considered heads of household.

an Orwellian backdrop for a Rockwellian world.

Celia thought the cost for the rooms was reasonable. She and Maybelle would each pay $10 a month to share the space.

The military may have been in charge, but the irrepressible life force that is woman—that was well beyond their control. The only thing that would be temporary was the war.

The brand-new president felt, as he later wrote, "like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me.

April 19, 1943, issue of Life magazine. ". . . In dry states and in states where there is local option, the military faces the problem of bootleg liquor. Bootleggers cannot be regulated; legal dispenses can be regulated.

The doctors made plans to collect biological samples--tissues, urine, feces--all of which would be tested for the presence of plutonium, to see how it would travel, how much of it would remain in the body, and what effect it might have on HP-12 [Ebb Cade]. The day after the injection [April, 1945], Dr. Friedell sent news to Los Alamos. "I think we will have access to considerable clinical material here and we hope to do a number of subjects," he wrote.

August in East Tennessee is a sweaty panting mutt, breathing down a dust-caked neck that has been baked by the southern sun.

Our doubts are traitors," she penned for the editorial page of her new endeavor. "And make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.

It may be truly said of her that —'Strength is born In the deep silence of long suffering hearts, Not amidst joy.

World War II left no life untouched. An estimated 16 million American men had gone off to fight. More than 400,000 lost their lives. Military and civilian deaths worldwide were estimated to be as high as 80 million.

all of them coursing toward a place that officially did not exist.

Though the government had the opportunity to establish the Reservation as a completely desegregated zone, it did not; black residents on the grounds of the Clinton Engineer Works would be primarily laborers, janitors, and domestics, and would live separately, no matter their education or background. This would prevent noted mathematician, physicist, and engineer J. Ernest Wilkins Jr., who was working at the Metallurgical Lab at the University of Chicago, from being transferred to Oak Ridge.

regular deliveries of ice blocks from the local purveyor.

It is a festival which will never become obsolete, for it cherishes the best affections of the heart—the social and domestic ties. It calls together the dispersed members of the family circle, and brings plenty, joy and gladness to the dwellings of the poor and lowly. . . . The moral effect of this simple festival is essentially good.

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has," believed Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus. And as an old Buddhist proverb states: "'Enough' is a feast.

quoin trim, the YMI building was much like many of the buildings

dining room. On Sunday, supper was eaten early

a stuffed bear: "Teddy's Bear." Roosevelt okayed the use of his name, and—thanks in no small part to LeRoy Dresser—the Teddy Bear was born.

seemed to know what was going on, not even the