The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women

by Kate Moore Narrated by Angela Brazil

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Written with enthralling prose that refuses to let go, this is the true story of the women who fought for worker’s rights in the face of World War I industry. The effect was massive, and it’s too often forgotten.

1917. 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. 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. They were the radium girls.


As the years passed, the women began to suffer from mysterious and crippling illnesses. 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. Yet their employers denied all responsibility. 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.


Drawing on previously unpublished sources-including diaries, letters, and court transcripts, as well as original interviews with the women's relatives-The Radium Girls is an intimate narrative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. It is the powerful tale of a group of ordinary women from the Roaring Twenties, who themselves learned how to roar.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Radium Girls spares us nothing of their suffering; though at times the foreshadowing reads more like a true-crime story, Moore is intent on making the reader viscerally understand the pain in which these young women were living, and through which they had to fight in order to get their problems recognized…The story of real women at the mercy of businesses who see them only as a potential risk to the bottom line is haunting precisely because of how little has changed; the glowing ghosts of the radium girls haunt us still." — NPR Books

"A perfect blend of the historical, the scientific, and the personal, this richly detailed book sheds a whole new light on this unique element and the role it played in changing workers' rights. The Radium Girls makes it impossible for you to ignore these women's incredible stories, and proves why, now more than ever, we can't afford to ignore science, either." — Bustle

"Kate Moore has dug deep to expose a wrong that still resonates–as it should–in this country. Exceptional!" — San Francisco Book Review

"Compelling chronicle of women whose work maimed and killed them while their employers, their doctors and their government turned a blind eye to their suffering" — The Seattle Times

"Written with the taut pacing of a novel, Kate Moore’s The Radium Girls tells the horrifying true story of the young women who worked in radium dial factories in the 1920s and ’30s...Their incredible story, beautifully told by Kate Moore, is sure to incite equal parts compassion and horror in the reader." — BookPage

"We sometimes need reminding of where health and safety came from, and why it is so very important for progress. The Radium Girls compels us to remember." — Chemistry World

"Carefully researched, the work will stun readers with its descriptions of the glittering artisans who, oblivious to health dangers, twirled camel-hair brushes to fine points using their mouths, a technique called lip-pointing…Moore details what was a ‘ground-breaking, law-changing, and life-saving accomplishment’ for worker’s rights." — Publishers Weekly

"This timely book celebrates the strength of a group of women, whose determination to fight improved both labor laws and scientific knowledge of radium poisoning. Written in a highly readable, narrative style, Moore’s chronicle of these inspirational women’s lives is sure to provoke discussion—and outrage—in book groups." — Booklist-STARRED review

"Moore’s well-researched narrative is written with clarity and a sympathetic voice that brings these figures and their struggles to life...a must-read for anyone interested in American and women’s history, as well as topics of law, health, and industrial safety." — STARRED Library Journal

"Kate Moore vividly depicts the female factory workers whose courage led to a revolution in industrial safety standards. In describing their heart wrenching struggles and bittersweet triumphs, Moore delivers an intimate portrait of these pioneers. Uplifting and beautifully written, The Radium Girls is a tribute to the strength of women everywhere." — Nathalia Holt, New York Times bestselling author of Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us From Missiles to the Moon to Mars

"Kate Moore’s gripping narrative about the betrayal of the radium girls—gracefully told and exhaustively researched—makes this a nonfiction classic. I particularly admire Moore’s compassion for her subjects and her story-telling prowess, which brings alive a shameful era in America’s industrial history." — Rinker Buck, author of The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey and Flight of Passage

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171389055
Publisher:	HighBridge Company
Publication date:	05/02/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

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