Decades prior to the establishment of the planned city, a local eccentric named John Hendrix prophesized its construction, foreseeing the arrival of huge machines which dug the foundations, and railway lines which would run nearby. The completion of the nearby Norris Dam in the 1930s meant the area had plentiful electricity, and in 1941 some 60,000 acres of land was purchased by the federal government. Rapidly urbanizing the remote area in just a few years, by the end of 1945 over 70,000 people lived in Oak Ridge.

Oak Ridge was crucial to the Manhattan Project, as it produced the enriched uranium necessary for the atomic bomb: enormous amounts of potential energy are present in the atoms of this element. Yet the project was intricate and complex: great scientific minds had to visit the production buildings regularly to review progress. To preserve secrecy, many went by false names.

The story is accompanied by thirty photographs and a map, which further enrich the narrative.