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igrozeva13 's review for:
"Through their diaries, letters, and court testimonies, the girls had personally left behind their own accounts of what had happened to them. Their voices had been there all along, gathering dust in the archives, just waiting for someone to listen."
Even if you know of the Radium Girls, this book takes a personal approach to their story and provides a new perspective - the perspective from the girls and the families that actually lived and experienced these horrors. It's beautifully written and, in the author's note, Kate Moore describes how she went to their towns and visited their relatives to help give them their voice. So much credit to the author for putting their stories together and giving them a chance to be heard.
It's a heartbreaking story and while they made history and improved conditions for millions of workers who lived after them, it's disheartening because there are many parallels to today's world where profit is very often still put above people. The girls, destined to die, had to fight for so long against a company that didn't care about them at all. The true evils exhibited by the companies they worked for is horrifying and should serve as a lesson to us all.
I do want to mention that the writing isn't the best. I had trouble with the mixing of facts and assumptions the author made and while I think it was unsuccessful at times, I appreciated the efforts that the author made in trying to humanize the stories. It's difficult as she wasn't able to interview any of the girls, but the words from their diaries and relatives gives me enough to go on, and I understand the challenge with trying to tell so many stories in one book.
Even if you know of the Radium Girls, this book takes a personal approach to their story and provides a new perspective - the perspective from the girls and the families that actually lived and experienced these horrors. It's beautifully written and, in the author's note, Kate Moore describes how she went to their towns and visited their relatives to help give them their voice. So much credit to the author for putting their stories together and giving them a chance to be heard.
It's a heartbreaking story and while they made history and improved conditions for millions of workers who lived after them, it's disheartening because there are many parallels to today's world where profit is very often still put above people. The girls, destined to die, had to fight for so long against a company that didn't care about them at all. The true evils exhibited by the companies they worked for is horrifying and should serve as a lesson to us all.
I do want to mention that the writing isn't the best. I had trouble with the mixing of facts and assumptions the author made and while I think it was unsuccessful at times, I appreciated the efforts that the author made in trying to humanize the stories. It's difficult as she wasn't able to interview any of the girls, but the words from their diaries and relatives gives me enough to go on, and I understand the challenge with trying to tell so many stories in one book.