The Girls Of Atomic City Epub Download
Gema Shisila
The girls spend their evenings socializing and flirting with soldiers, scientists, and workmen at dances and movies, bowling alleys and canteens. June longs to know more about their top-secret assignment and begins an affair with Sam Cantor, the young Jewish physicist from New York who oversees the lab where she works and understands the end goal only too well, while her beautiful roommate Cici is on her own mission: to find a wealthy husband and escape her sharecropper roots. Across town, African-American construction worker Joe Brewer knows nothing of the government's plans, only that his new job pays enough to make it worth leaving his family behind, at least for now. But a breach in security will intertwine his fate with June's search for answers.
Born and raised in East Tennessee, Janet Beard moved to New York to study screenwriting at NYU and went on to earn an MFA in creative writing from The New School. Janet lives in Columbus, Ohio, where she is teaching writing, raising a daughter, and working on a new novel.
December 15, 2017
In the 1940s, Americans--many of them with no idea what they're doing--work together to create an atomic bomb.June Walker is just 18 when she moves to Oak Ridge, a town situated within a restricted military area, to work at her first job. Along with many other young women, she's instructed to watch the meters and adjust the dials in front of her--she gets no other information about what she is doing. Surrounded by signs with slogans like "What you do here, what you see here, what you hear here, let it stay here," the women are ordered to avoid telling their friends and family anything about Oak Ridge. Most of the women June works alongside are able to easily avoid worrying about the true purpose of their work, content to distract themselves with flirting and nightly dances. But not everyone at Oak Ridge is in the dark about the weapon they're building; Sam Cantor, a Jewish scientist, knows that the workers of Oak Ridge are rushing to create an atomic bomb that will hopefully end the war. When he and June begin a romance and he tells June what she's working on, she must deal with the knowledge that she's creating a devastating weapon. Although June's and Sam's voices are most prominent, Beard (Beneath the Pines, 2008) also explores two more points of view: those of Cici, June's social striver roommate, and Joe, an African-American construction worker who faces segregation and poor living conditions. The characters, especially June, are well-drawn and sympathetic. Numerous real photos of Oak Ridge are included, which add visual interest to an already compelling story. Fans of historical fiction will devour this complex and human look at the people involved in the creation of the atomic bomb.A fascinating look at an underexplored chapter of American history. COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Starred review from November 15, 2017
In the WWII race to beat the Nazis to the atomic bomb, the Manhattan Project was formed; in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a gated city sprang up to produce the requisite uranium. Beard's second historical novel (Beneath the Pines, 2008) tells the story of that city through the eyes of four interrelated characters. Local teen June Walker, working her first job, rooms with Cici Roberts, born poor but determined to fix this through a rich marriage. Sam Cantor is a lead scientist working at Oak Ridge, and Joe Brewer works on construction of the city while living in the city's inferior, segregated area. These distinct perspectives allow a glimpse at the social hierarchy of Oak Ridge as well as the work done therefor the most part by people who did not know what, exactly, they were working on. Beard has taken a project of momentous impact and injected a human element into it. The workers at Oak Ridge struggle with emotional issues, like love and jealousy, as well as societal ones, like segregation and the moral dilemma of creating a bomb made for wide-scale destruction. This is approachable, intelligent, and highly satisfying historical fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)
November 15, 2017
In 1944, the town of Oak Ridge, TN, doesn't technically exist, yet it is home to thousands of workers racing to build the first atomic bomb. Beard's (Beneath the Pines) new historical novel focuses on the little-known realities behind the Manhattan Project. The production facility is a nice place to live and work for white country girls wanting good wages, but it's a slum with atrocious living conditions for segregated black workers. Eighteen-year-old farm girl June Walker is thrilled to be at Oak Ridge, but she doesn't know the true purpose of her work and is warned never to discuss details. Her affair with physicist Sam Cantor and his drunken slip of the tongue about the bomb test her loyalty. In exchange for higher wages, construction worker Joe Brewer endures substandard accommodations, separation from his family, and a tragedy that strikes a young friend fighting for equal rights. America's fight for freedom and dignity across the globe is sharply contrasted with blatant racism and injustice at home. VERDICT Readers who enjoyed Martha Hall Kelly'sLilac Girls will appreciate this glimpse into the beliefs and attitudes that shaped America during World War II. [See Prepub Alert, 8/28/17.]--K.L. Romo, Duncanville, TX
September 15, 2017
Beard (Beneath the Pines) tells the story of the women who worked at the Oak Ridge, TN, production site for the Manhattan Project by focusing on 18-year-old June Walker. The women know nothing about their assignment, and June contents herself with socializing (even launching an affair with a young Jewish physicist) until a security breach compels her to start asking questions. With a 100,000-copy first printing.
Exposure to endocrine active compounds, including bisphenol A (BPA), remains poorly characterized in developing countries despite the fact that behavioral practices related to westernization have the potential to influence exposure. BPA is a high production volume chemical that has been associated with metabolic dysfunction as well as behavioral and developmental effects in people, including children. In this pilot study, we evaluate BPA exposure and assess likely pathways of exposure among girls from urban and rural Egypt.
We measured urinary concentrations of total (free plus conjugated) species of BPA in spot samples in urban (N = 30) and rural (N = 30) Egyptian girls, and compared these concentrations to preexisting data from age-matched American girls (N = 47) from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). We also collected anthropometric and questionnaire data regarding food storage behaviors to assess potential routes of exposure.
Urban and rural Egyptian girls exhibited similar concentrations of urinary total BPA, with median unadjusted values of 1.00 and 0.60 ng/mL, respectively. Concentrations of urinary BPA in this group of Egyptian girls (median unadjusted: 0.70 ng/mL) were significantly lower compared to age-matched American girls (median unadjusted: 2.60 ng/mL) according to NHANES 2009-2010 data. Reported storage of food in plastic containers was a significant predictor of increasing concentrations of urinary BPA.
Despite the relatively low urinary BPA concentrations within this Egyptian cohort, the significant association between food storage behaviors and increasing urinary BPA concentration highlights the need to understand food and consumer product patterns that may be closing the gap between urban and rural lifestyles.
In 2009, we recruited healthy females between the ages of 10-13 years living in either rural (N = 30) or urban (N = 30) areas of the Gharbiah province of Egypt, located 90 kilometers north of Cairo. Approximately 30% of Gharbiah's population resides in urban areas, with Tanta serving as the capital of all eight districts within the region. To determine rural versus urban status, participants were assigned a residence code based on their residential address that followed the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) national census coding of urban and rural areas [22]. To recruit urban subjects, we utilized a systematic random sampling of census records from Tanta. Rural subjects were recruited via systematic random sampling from two villages in two separate districts in the province. No refusals were encountered when selected subjects were approached in local primary schools to participate. All study participants were provided bus transportation to and from the Tanta Cancer Center and were not restricted from food and water access. Mothers of participants gave informed consent prior to sample collection. Approval from the Institutional Review Boards of the University of Michigan and the Gharbiah Cancer Society were obtained before starting the study. The involvement of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) laboratory was determined not to constitute engagement in human subject research.
Participants provided one spot urine sample, completed an administered questionnaire in Arabic, and were measured for height, weight, waist, and hip circumference. Urine samples from individuals were collected between 12:00 and 4:00 PM in sterile polypropylene containers between July and October 2009. Nine mL of urine were mixed thoroughly, split into two aliquots, and shipped on dry ice to the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) at the CDC for analysis and the University of Michigan School Of Public Health for archiving. An interviewer administered a lifestyle and diet questionnaire in Arabic in order to assess potential routes of exposure. The questionnaire, entitled "Comparison of Xenoestrogen Levels Among Prepubertal Females in Urban and Rural Gharbiah, Egypt," contained questions addressing residential history, personal care product usage, family history of cancer, use of canned foods, and food preparation and storage behaviors.
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