Book Notes | Reckoning with history
Emily Strasser's memoir Half-Life of a Secret: Reckoning with a Hidden History is about the work at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a secret city for 70,000 people constructed in 1942–43 as part of the Manhattan Project for developing the atomic bomb. Staff were unable to talk with each other; truth was sanitized; many did not know they were creating the bomb.
During our discussion, UMRA’s Book Club I members agreed that Strasser’s family stories made the book meaningful. Her grandfather George Strasser was a chemist at Oak Ridge for a decade. He suffered from alcoholism and mental illness and was finally dismissed because he was “totally and permanently disabled.”
Strasser earned a master of fine arts degree in creative writing at the University of Minnesota, where she spent time researching and writing Half-Life, her first book, published in 2023 by University Press of Kentucky.
Oakridge is still heavily contaminated with uranium and other toxic substances. A half-million pounds of mercury flowed into nearby waters and still pollute streams and lakes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hopes the site will be cleaned up by 2047.
Strasser tells about suppression of the truth. Environmental samples taken by the United States Geological Survey were confiscated. A doctor who raised issues about various cancers was persecuted; his hospital cut his phone lines. Around 15,000 people died at Oak Ridge.
Many injustices
Our members cited many injustices—to the small farmers displaced to create the city and to the nearly 7,000 African Americans who worked in Oak Ridge for the Manhattan Project—and the immorality of the United States dropping atomic bombs on Japan.
Strasser’s visit to Hiroshima and her conversations with Hibakusha—survivors of the bombs dropped on Japan—helped us feel the horror of what our country did to innocent people. I agreed with Strasser's statement that at Oak Ridge and Los Alamos, “The bomb was glorified while the victims were erased.” In the movie Oppenheimer, very little was said about the horrific impact of the bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Strasser concludes: “There is no knowing, no certainty in a place with such widespread and complex contaminations as Oak Ridge, in a place that has been steeped for years in an oppressive culture of secrecy. … I believe this land, these people, were hurt. It matters that fish and other species still carry elevated concentrations of mercury, that radioactive materials still trickle into the streams and rivers. What is the half-life of a secret?”
Strasser’s work has also appeared in Catapult, Ploughshares, Guernica, Colorado Review, The Bitter Southerner, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and more. In 2024, she received the Reed Prize in Environmental Writing (book award) from the Southern Environmental Law Center. Strasser teaches creative nonfiction, journalism, and writing about climate change at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
—Judy Helgen, UMRA Book Club I
Book Club I September: 'Half-Life of a Secret'
Fri, Sep 20, 2024, 2pm
Judy Helgen will lead the discussion of Half-Life of a Secret by Emily Strasser when the UMRA Book Club meets at 2 p.m. on Friday, September 20, via Zoom. The author’s grandfather was a chemist at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The book reveals the story of Oak Ridge, one of three cities constructed by the Manhattan Project to support development of the atomic bomb.
On Friday, October 18, also at 2 p.m., Beth Bedell will lead the discussion of Should We Stay or Should We Go by Lionel Shriver. In the book, the characters decide while they are healthy and vital in their 50s to make a pact, so when they are in their 80s they can choose to commit suicide together. The author sets out a compassionate satire that imagines a dozen different scenarios for its two protagonists as they approach their 80s.
Email Pat Tollefson for more information.
Upcoming Events
UMRA's special event for this winter will again be a celebration of brighter days and the approaching end of winter. We'll have food, fellowship, and music provided by Urban Sound, one of the U of M’s premier student a cappella ensembles.
Our February 3 hike will be around Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis, with an option to add Bde Maka Ska, weather permitting. No matter how far we hike, let’s go to Isles Bun & Coffee for treats after the hike. Their buns are delicious!
Cabinets of Curiosity will seek out the University of Minnesota Herbarium on the St Paul Campus. Collections Manager Tim Whitfeld will share his knowledge of that amazing collection and explain its critical importance in the 21st century. Botanists study these pressed plants, individually and collectively, to establish a history of plant life, often over centuries, because they contain compelling evidence of the ever modulating geographical distribution of plants and evidence of how climate, pests, and other factors have changed species over time.
"Things that drive me crazy" will be the theme when the UMRA Photo Club meets on February 11. Newcomers are welcome.
Many life challenges that get in the way of quality of life and good health at home have little to do with medical issues. Cathy Lauring, our presenter for UMRA’s February 18 workshop, will explore a variety of resources to assist in keeping us healthy at home—including physical, emotional, cognitive, and financial services.
John Bantle will lead the discussion of A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson when the UMRA book club meets via Zoom on February 21.
Join UMRA members to watch two of the best hockey teams in the nation. UMRA has negotiated a discounted ticket price of $33.
Barbara Klick, RN, MBA, the presenter for UMRA’s February 25 Forum, has decades of experience working in human and veterinary medicine, and will bring her wisdom and perspective to our discussion about what we can learn from our pets about facing end-of-life challenges and decisions.
The Fourth Friday Book Club will meet via Zoom on February 28 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. CST to discuss The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
Will Craig discusses using local sources for family history.
The UMRA Hiking Club will explore wildlife along the Mississippi River in Fort Snelling State Park. The 3.9-mile Pike Island Loop is generally considered an easy route and takes just over an hour. Hikers can leave at that point, or stay to add another short loop. The trail is located below the bluff on which the historic fort sits. The last time we were there we saw a lot of deer, and the river always provides fascinating views.
The University of Minnesota Archives, with its major holdings largely tucked away in two huge underground caverns along the Mississippi River under the West Bank campus, holds the essential records of our University of Minnesota’s past. University Archivist Erik Moore will explain the holdings and role of our extensive university archive and bring out a sampling of what it holds. At the end of our visit, he will conduct a tour of the literally cool caverns (Minnesota Library Access Center), revealing where these precious materials are housed, including the original tapes of KUOM, now Radio K.