7/7/2023 0 Comments Radium girls book review![]() ![]() Although the story of the radium girls was sketched in a brief outline in my first ever lab safety training, I always assumed that the path to remuneration and industry reform had been straightforward and smooth. ![]() It is especially notable for the way in which it emphasizes the humanity of the women whose lives it documents. This book is reminiscent of other works that document scientific misconduct in America, such as The Plutonium Files, Imbeciles, and Medical Apartheid. What other book might you compare The Radium Girls to and why? If you could sum up The Radium Girls in three words, what would they be?Ĭorporate malfeasance, horrifying, important It is the powerful tale of a group of ordinary women from the Roaring 20s who themselves learned how to roar. And so, in the face of unimaginable suffering - in the face of death - these courageous women refused to accept their fate quietly and instead became determined to fight for justice.ĭrawing on previously unpublished sources - including diaries, letters, and court transcripts as well as original interviews with the women's relatives - The Radium Girls is an intimate narrative account of an unforgettable true story. Yet their employers denied all responsibility. The very thing that had made them feel alive - their work - was in fact slowly killing them: They had been poisoned by the radium paint. They were the radium girls.Īs the years passed, the women began to suffer from mysterious and crippling illnesses. ![]() It was a fun job, lucrative and glamorous - the girls themselves shone brightly in the dark, covered head to toe in the dust from the paint. As a war raged across the world, young American women flocked to work, painting watches, clocks, and military dials with a special luminous substance made from radium. Overall, this book was disturbing and fascinating while being uplifting all at the same time.The year was 1917. Even though they were all basically doomed to death, they kept fighting and it was so inspiring. That said, it was so uplifting to read the stories of each girl afflicted by radium poisoning who didn’t let it get in the way of fighting for justice and truth. This time though, I was disturbed by the unflinching greed that the companies had and when faced with the fact that the way they were handling radium might be dangerous, they silenced, sued, and shut up everyone who didn’t agree with there opinion just so they wouldn’t have to shut down the thing that was making them money. I was still disturbed by the way the radium affected the girls because it is so violent and heartbreaking. ![]() Three years later, I finally read it, and honestly, it was just as disturbing as it was when I first read it but not completely for the same reasons. I actually tried to read this back when it came out but I was thirteen and It was pretty gory and disturbing and my fetus mind couldn’t handle it so I put it down. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America’s early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers’ rights that will echo for centuries to come. With such a coveted job, these “shining girls” are the luckiest alive - until they begin to fall mysteriously ill.īut the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women’s cries of corruption. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe they light up the night like industrious fireflies. Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War. The Curies’ newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. The Radium Girls is a horrifying and disturbing display of when human greed goes too far that I was upset yet fascinated by. The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore ![]()
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