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The Radium Girls The Dark Story of America Shining Women Kate Moore 4708364235026 Books

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The Radium Girls The Dark Story of America Shining Women Kate Moore 4708364235026 Books

In the early twentieth century one of the best jobs young girls and women in America could have involved something exciting and brand new: radium. Sparkling, glowing, and beautiful, radium was also, according to the companies that employed these young women, completely harmless. A century later the truth about radium and its assorted isotopes is all too well known. In The Radium Girls Kate Moore tells the story of these young women, seemingly so fortunate, who were poisoned by the jobs they felt so lucky to have.

Radium was widely heralded as a wondrous new substance after it was first isolated by the Curies. It appeared to have an infinite number of uses, one of the first of which was to make the numbers on clocks and watches easier to see. Workers were needed to coat the dials with radium paint, and the best and most efficient workers were women and girls, some as young as 14 or 15. The work was pleasant and sociable: the women sat around tables painting, moistening the thin brushes in their mouths before they dipped them into the paint, chatting, eating, and drinking while they worked, sometimes taking extra paint home with them to practice with, sometimes painting their teeth, faces, hair, and clothing to make them sparkly. When they left the studio their clothing would be covered with radium dust, and would glow ghost-like in the night. The pay was good and the work was easy, but then some of the women started having strange pains in their mouths and bones. Their teeth would loosen and fall out and their jaws, legs, and ankles would develop permanent aches or even crumble.

After some of the women died and more became ill the companies making large profits on radium rushed to dismiss any hint that the work was unsafe. Victims and their families sought relief and assistance, but found they were responsible for their own mounting medical bills. The federal, state, and local governments all disavowed any responsibility. Eventually publicity stemming from lawsuits filed by some of the victims (using their own scanty resources) focused enough attention on the problem that governments felt compelled to set safety standards and regulations.

The Radium Girls is a horrifying read. The careless ways in which radium was handled, the indifference of the radium using industries and the governments involved to the safety of the women painters (in contrast to the men who worked to produce the radium, who were protected by lead shields), and the pain and suffering of the women themselves are appalling. The safety regulations and restrictions which were finally put into place hardly seem adequate, and the Epilogue and Postscript giving details of the women's later lives, as well as an account of another industry that made careless use of radium as late as the 1970s, are especially harrowing.

This is a well written, meticulously research and documented, account of tragedies that never should have been. The radium girls' lives can't be returned to them, but thanks to Kate Moore we can remember, and learn, from their pain.


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The Radium Girls The Dark Story of America Shining Women Kate Moore 4708364235026 Books Reviews

This book is an amazing record of women involved in the craze of "the health benefits" and industrial uses of radium that occurred in the early 1920s, lasting well after WWII. They were employed in painting dials for watches and equipment with radium paint, without any knowledge of the dangers to which they were being exposed. As a result of management's subterfuge, they were to spend years suffering from the effect of radium poisoning before finally succumbing. This is the story of their fight for justice in the courts, the fight to stop any further needless suffering and ultimately convincing the courts that the companies should be held responsible.
Kate Moore has done an amazing job of recreating their stories, with the assistance of family members, letters, diaries, medical reports, and case notes from the son of the attorney who handled their cases. Moores extensive research results in an amazing story, appalling as the facts may be. It truly is a great read!
If only the women were shown this level of respect in their lifetimes. Their story shines from the pages and is horrifyingly relevant to today. We owe these ladies an enormous debt and it our duty to see it is repaid by never allowing it to be repeated.
I just got through reading Radium Girls based the the true story of the girls and women employed to paint watch dials in the early twentieth century with an exciting and new product, radium. Radium sparkled, glowed, and was thought to be good for your health. It was heralded as the worlds newest wonder!! One of the uses was to make watches and clocks easier to see because the radium made the dial light up in the dark. Girls as young as 14 were recruited to join in on the exciting new job opportunity. Girls and young women sat in rows with trays of watch dials with a crucible of radium. They were taught to moisten thin brushes in their mouthes before they dipped them into the paint. They even ate at their work benches. The radium dust would cover the workers and as they walked home at night the girls would actually GLOW. Every girl wanted in on the work as it was good pay and radium was said to be good for your health. Little did they know that the work they were doing was eventually going to lead to their own demise.

This book is excellent and gives amazing historical background pertaining to the inauguration of workers compensation, liability, and medical advancements. It is definitely a very emotional charged book. I would highly recommend this book.
One of the best books I have read in a long time! Telling the story of the Radium Girls from the standpoint of the girls/women who were victimized by corporate greed and their battle for their rights was wonderful. Kate Moore brought these brave women to light in a brilliant manner. I had trouble putting this book down and highly recommend it.
This is one these books that will stay with you long after you finished reading it. The suffering, the indifference, the greed, the lies, the audacity... 90 years later it is still easy to imagine it happening over and over again.
In the early twentieth century one of the best jobs young girls and women in America could have involved something exciting and brand new radium. Sparkling, glowing, and beautiful, radium was also, according to the companies that employed these young women, completely harmless. A century later the truth about radium and its assorted isotopes is all too well known. In The Radium Girls Kate Moore tells the story of these young women, seemingly so fortunate, who were poisoned by the jobs they felt so lucky to have.

Radium was widely heralded as a wondrous new substance after it was first isolated by the Curies. It appeared to have an infinite number of uses, one of the first of which was to make the numbers on clocks and watches easier to see. Workers were needed to coat the dials with radium paint, and the best and most efficient workers were women and girls, some as young as 14 or 15. The work was pleasant and sociable the women sat around tables painting, moistening the thin brushes in their mouths before they dipped them into the paint, chatting, eating, and drinking while they worked, sometimes taking extra paint home with them to practice with, sometimes painting their teeth, faces, hair, and clothing to make them sparkly. When they left the studio their clothing would be covered with radium dust, and would glow ghost-like in the night. The pay was good and the work was easy, but then some of the women started having strange pains in their mouths and bones. Their teeth would loosen and fall out and their jaws, legs, and ankles would develop permanent aches or even crumble.

After some of the women died and more became ill the companies making large profits on radium rushed to dismiss any hint that the work was unsafe. Victims and their families sought relief and assistance, but found they were responsible for their own mounting medical bills. The federal, state, and local governments all disavowed any responsibility. Eventually publicity stemming from lawsuits filed by some of the victims (using their own scanty resources) focused enough attention on the problem that governments felt compelled to set safety standards and regulations.

The Radium Girls is a horrifying read. The careless ways in which radium was handled, the indifference of the radium using industries and the governments involved to the safety of the women painters (in contrast to the men who worked to produce the radium, who were protected by lead shields), and the pain and suffering of the women themselves are appalling. The safety regulations and restrictions which were finally put into place hardly seem adequate, and the Epilogue and Postscript giving details of the women's later lives, as well as an account of another industry that made careless use of radium as late as the 1970s, are especially harrowing.

This is a well written, meticulously research and documented, account of tragedies that never should have been. The radium girls' lives can't be returned to them, but thanks to Kate Moore we can remember, and learn, from their pain.