In 1942, the US government began construction on a sixty-thousand-acre planned community named Oak Ridge in a rural area west of Knoxville, Tennessee. Unmarked on regional maps, Oak Ridge attracted more than seventy thousand people eager for high-paying wartime jobs. Among them was author Emily Strasser's grandfather George, a chemist. All employees—from scientists to secretaries, from military personnel to construction workers—were restricted by the tightest security. They were provided only the minimum information necessary to perform their jobs.

It wasn't until three years later that the citizens of Oak Ridge, and the rest of the world, learned the true purpose of the local industry. Oak Ridge was one of three secret cities constructed by the Manhattan Project for the express purpose of developing the first atomic bomb, which devastated Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

In Half-Life of a Secret: Reckoning with a Hidden History, Emily Strasser exposes the toxic legacy—political, environmental, and personal—that forever polluted her family, a community, the nation, and the world. Sifting through archives and family memories, and traveling to the deserts of Nevada and the living rooms of Hiroshima, she grapples with the far-reaching ramifications of her grandfather's work. She learns that during the three decades he spent building nuclear weapons, George suffered from increasingly debilitating mental illness. Returning to Oak Ridge, Strasser confronts the widespread contamination resulting from nuclear weapons production and the government's disregard for its impact on the environment and public health. With brilliant insight, she reveals the intersections between the culture of secrecy in her family and the institutionalized secrecy within the nuclear industry, which persists, with grave consequences, to this day.

Emily Strasser is based in Minneapolis, where she received her MFA from the University of Minnesota. Her work has appeared in Catapult, Ploughshares, Guernica, Colorado Review, The Bitter Southerner, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, and Gulf Coast, among others. Her writing has been honored by awards and fellowships including the Ploughshares Emerging Writer’s Contest, the Minnesota State Arts Board Artist’s Initiative grant, the W.K. Rose Fellowship, and the Olive B. O’Connor Fellowship in Creative Writing. She was a 2019 McKnight Writing Fellow. Half-Life of a Secret is her first book.

A note about in person events:

We are very excited to bring authors and readers back together in our space, and we know you are too!

As we all navigate the transition back to congregating in person, we ask that you use honesty, care, and understanding in interacting with fellow event-goers, staff, and authors.

Please note that Magers & Quinn will always comply with current city and state regulations, and reserves the right to change the below policies at any time. These are guidelines only, and if you have questions about the most up to date information, you can always call us at 612-822-4611.

For information about how our in-person events work, please read on:

Q: Are masks required?

A: Masks are not required to browse in the store. However, we strongly encourage masking while seated in the event area and waiting in the signing line.

For the health and safety of others, we strongly encourage you to wear a mask or face covering, especially for longer visits to the store such as events.

Q: Are in store events free?

A: Yes, Magers & Quinn events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

Q: Do I need to RSVP?

A: Yes, please. Each event will now include a registration link.

As we navigate this step back to in-person events, we will be limiting event capacity to ensure a safe and comfortable experience for all attendees and authors. By requiring pre-registration, we can easily communicate event updates and policies with those who plan to attend, and can contact attendees after the event with follow-up information.

We strongly suggest registering via the Eventbrite link provided on our website, but if you are unable to sign up online, please call or visit the bookstore and register with a bookseller.

We may or may not be able to accommodate unregistered walk-ins, and seating priority will always be given to registered customers. We appreciate your understanding of this process!