One of the last frontier towns east of the Mississippi, Paducah took center stage in the drama of an expanding United States despite a late start and a penchant for independence and self reliance. The Kentucky river city played no small part in the rise of river commerce and its successor, the railroads. From river packets to enriched uranium, its history is marked by victory over disastrous floods and a headlong rush toward a future embracing new technology.

Paducah: Frontier to the Atomic Age tells the story of a community torn apart from the start between Chickasaw and American claims,...