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The Radium Girls: They paid with their lives. Their final fight was for justice.
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By Kate Moore
avg rating
1 review
Emma Watson’s Our Shared Shelf book club choice
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
All they wanted was the chance to shine. Be careful what you wish for…
‘The first thing we asked was, “Does this stuff hurt you?” And they said, “No.” The company said that it wasn’t dangerous, that we didn’t need to be afraid.’
As the First World War spread across the world, young American women flocked to work in factories, painting clocks, watches and military dials with a special luminous substance made from radium. It was a fun job, lucrative and glamorous – the girls shone brightly in the dark, covered head to toe in dust from the paint. However, as the years passed, the women began to suffer from mysterious and crippling illnesses. It turned out that the very thing that had made them feel alive – their work – was slowly killing them: the radium paint was poisonous. Their employers denied all responsibility, but these courageous women – in the face of unimaginable suffering – refused to accept their fate quietly, and instead became determined to fight for justice.Drawing on previously unpublished diaries, letters and interviews, The Radium Girls is an intimate narrative of an unforgettable true story. It is the powerful tale of a group of ordinary women from the Roaring Twenties, who themselves learned how to roar.
Reviews
Well researched details of an appalling lack of integrity and morality displayed by the Radium companies (i.e. commerce, USRC in particular) in their willingness to even acknowledge the life changing and ultimately terminal effects of the processes of work required for their employees to complete their tasks. Shocking the length of time and the legal game playing that went on. NDA beyond what we even experience at this time. One shocking example being where the attorney involved has to sign to confirm that he will not personally represent any other clients in suits against this company. The difficulty for them was that he was successful in his challenges. The difficulty for other sufferers wishing to claim being that no-one else was up for taking on this challenge. Really shocking. The length of times involved and the lack of support all the way around. Within communities, personal, as well as legal. Compounded by the condemning someone to the shame of having 'syphillis' as their cause of death when in fact it was radium poisoning. Poisoning that didn't need to happen. This was not an emotive book despite detailing the medical horrors that these poor girls, and their families, experienced. It is however written in a way that helps you to identify with the hopes and dreams of these girls (children some of them when they began the work) and the results of removing the gift of 'hope' from them over and over again. I would highly recommend this to anyone who has a conscience.
