As the author herself put it, this is "the lives of men and women who lived and worked in grim secrecy to hasten the end of the war." It is the story of stressful lives, cryptic conversations between husbands and wives, leaky faucets and water shotrages, censored mail, and sharing a post office box with every other person in town PO Box 1663, Santa Fe, NM. Life was filled with difficulties, but it was also filled with determination to overcome the hardships and reach a goal. Tying it all together was a sense of pride, of patriotism, and communal spirit that surpassed anything they knew before or after those days of the Manhattan Project.

Inside Box 1663

History

Jette, Eleanor

Americas

Bathrub Row Pr

A facinating glimpse into the past of Los Alamos, New Mexico and the assembly of the world's first nuclear device. Many photographs support the story, which begins in 1943 when the government chose the Pajarito Plateau, home to a few small ranches, seasonal homesteaders, and the Los Alamos Ranch School as the site for the Manhattan Project.

Los Alamos Beginning of an Era: 1943-1945

Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Public Relations

Nine residents describe their lives in Los Alamos while the atomic bomb was being developed. The shock of arrival, housing conditions, security and secrecy, medical care, relations with Pueblo neighbors, and more told with insight and humor. Not Quite Eden is the chapter title for Jane Wilson's part of this book, and it describes life in wartime Los Alamos perfectly. The setting was remote, and there were few amenities. Housing accommodations were meager. Day-to-day lives were governed by security and secrecy, and the nearest neighbors were miles away at San Ildefonso Pueblo. The group of mostly young scientists and their families banded together and shared many good times as well as the bad. They faced hardships with a sense of humor and camaraderie that formed lifelong bonds. The stories offered here were written in 1946 by nine women who had lived those years in isolation. In Wilson's words: This is the story of three years of working and marrying and dying, of giving birth, of getting drunk, of laughing and crying, which culminated in that successful test at the Alamogordo bombing range. It is the story of Los Alamos.

Standing by and Making Do: Women of Wartime Los Alamos

In March 1943 Dorothy Scarritt McKibbin took a position that catapulted her into the center of the Manhattan Project. Her office, 109 East Palace Avenue in Santa Fe New Mexico, was the entry point for all scientists, technicians, and their families who came to Los Alamos, an isolated mesa in north-central New Mexico, to build a gadget that would change the course of World War II. They also built a community where people attempted to lead ordinary lives under extraordinary circumstances. Dorothy, a rare combination of gentility and fire, was a powerful civilizing influence for those individuals. She was their one contact with the world beyond the Hill, a world that did not know of their existence.

Gatekeeper to Los Alamos: Dorothy Scarritt McKibbin

Steeper, Nancy C.

A fascinating glimpse into the Los Alamos community since 1943, when entertainment was scarce, with the exception of the great outdoors. Work was challenging for the scientists, and the hours were long. Retreating to the outdoors occasionally must have been a tonic for them. It didn't take long before groups of people formed a tow association and built their own ski area. After working all week developing nuclear weapons, many of the physicists, chemists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians spent their weekends cutting, or using explosives, to clear ski trails. The development of Pajarito mountain coincided with some of the most intensive Cold War work in the Laboratory's history. The history of skiing in Los Alamos is unique, and this book tells that story.

Just Crazy to Ski: A Fifty-Year History of Skiing at Los Alamos

Kirby, Deanna Morgan

Sports & Outdoors

"Only the accomplishments of [Robert] Bacher's close friend, Robert Oppenheimer, begin to approach his own," writes Alan Carr, Los Alamos National Laboratory historianin The forgotten Physicist: Robert F. Bacher 1905-2004. By the time Robert Bacher joined the Manhattan Project he had established himself as one of the leading physicists in the United States. What lay ahead of him would complete a career, indeed a life, full of contributions to both, his country, and to science. His accomplishments, however, were not always of a nature to make national headlines. He was not a man to exploit his own deeds. Therefore, Bacher's achievements did not earn him public attention on a wide scale. At Los Alamos, Bacher had the the lead role in developing the implosion bomb and served as "Oppenheimer's most trusted subordinate." After the war, rather than being allowed to resume his academic career, Bacher was convinced to accept various positions in the administration of post-war nuclear policies, ultimately accepting an appointment to the Atomic Energy Commission. In the unsettled period of the 1950's he became an advisor to the President. Eventually, he made his way back to the physics that he loved, when he took the post of chairman of Physics, Mathematics and Astonomy at Caltech, where he helped develop a department that became world leader in higher learning. It was to be, perhaps, his most visible legacy. As Carr concludes, "It is difficult to assess with any degree of precision the impact of Robert Bacher's career on American history. But considering his many accomplishments, and the fact that he enjoyed considerable influence with twentieth century luminaries such as Hans Bethe, Enrico Fermi, Leslie R. Groves, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Lee DuBridge, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, one must conclude that he played a central role in the dawning of the atomic age".

The Forgotten Physicist: Robert F. Bacher, 1905-2004

Biographies & Memoirs

Carr, Alan B.

Professionals & Academics

More than a guide book, A Guide To Bandelier National Monument includes a 38-page introduction which gives a brief description, from prehistory, European arrival, to the WWII era and its aftermath. Dorothy Hoard uses photographs and cleanly drawn hand sketches to show Bandelier's trails from the Visitor's Center trailheads, State Road 4, St. Peter's Dome, and Eagle Canyon Pumice Mine trailheads. Dorothy gives the avid trail hiker, and the armchair nature enthusiast a clear idea of what the landscape holds, plus plenty of regional flavor sprinkled in with historical facts and information. Safety precautions and park regulations are included.

A Guide to Bandelier National Monument

Travel

Hoard, Dorothy

Food, Lodging & Transportation

Please consider purchasing this book directly from the Los Alamos Historical Society, where all proceeds will benefit the non-profit publisher of this set. 
 Doomed to Cooperate tells the remarkable story of nuclear scientists from two former enemy nations, Russia and the United States, who reached across political, geographic, and cultural divides to confront, together, the new nuclear threats that resulted from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Using the lingua franca of science and technology, the brilliant minds and unparalleled scientific nuclear programs of Russia and the United States embarked upon more than two decades of cooperation to avert the loss of nuclear weapons, nuclear materials, nuclear weapons expertise, and the export of sensitive nuclear technologies during a time of economic and political turmoil in the newly formed Russian Federation a herculean endeavor known as lab-to-lab cooperation. 
 This two-volume set shares the, as yet, untold story of lab-to-lab cooperation, and for the first time, many Russian nuclear scientists and leaders share their perspectives on this slice of nuclear history. With over 100 Russian and American contributors in papers, vignettes, and interviews, Doomed to Cooperate presents the challenges to cooperation, the trust and true friendships built in collaboration, and the successes of the hundreds of scientists, engineers, and political leaders who came together to make the world a safer place.

Doomed to Cooperate: How American and Russian Scientists Joined Forces to Avert Some of the Greatest Post-Cold War Nuclear Dangers

Siegfried S. Hecker ed.

World

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